There is no fate, but that which me make
by Cyborgscouse
Summary: Set during 2.03 quickly goes Au with what I think will happen. Already having trouble deciding between either Riley or Cameron, John’s life becomes more complicated and dangerous when a face from his past turns up; having no idea just what his life really
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: : I don't own Terminator: TSCC or Claire from Heroes, so yeah it's not that fair right now.

Summary: Set during 2.03 quickly goes Au with what I think will happen. Already having trouble deciding between either Riley or Cameron, John's life becomes more complicated and dangerous when a face from his past turns up; having no idea just what his life really is.

Standing in his room in a worse mood then he'd gone to bed in, John was staring down at the sole picture in his room; which was strange seeing as he never had it on show. Instead he kept the picture under his mattress; a soft pitter patter could be heard coming down the hall and towards his room, turning to look over his shoulder at his half closed door he knew that neither of the two females who were in the house would respect his privacy.

"I'll be down in a minute." He shouted not wanting them to come in, a brief pause filled the air were either Cameron or Riley stood outside his room for a few seconds before turning around and walking away once again. Rolling his eyes briefly, John turned back to the picture in his hands for a second time trying to take as much of it in as he could. A fifteen year old male wearing a black t-shirt with a bizarre pattern on it and hair dropping down into his eyes, standing to his side was a tiny blonde who barely reached his shoulder a beaming smile on her face showing her teeth as her eyes were glued to her companion. Letting out a tired sigh, John turned back towards his bed; carefully placing the picture back where he had gotten it from, memories of his last time with a foster family; and those brief months were he wasn't worried about his safety.

In an almost zombie state as he walked down the stairs, not really wanting to have to do anything today. But Riley had sort of invited herself to his house, saying that he needed to get out more and came up with the idea of going to the pier, it was at then Cameron decided to tell them both she wasn't allowed to let John out of her sight for the day with both Sarah and Derek gone. Stepping into the overly large living room, he could have laughed at the scene in front of him, if he weren't so annoyed with what had happened in the past few days; Riley was sitting at the end of the couch staring at the stairs; while Cameron was leaning against the wall, her brown eyes glued to the other girl.

"Are we going?" John asked knowing full well the longer they stayed in the house the more likely it looked that Cameron would kill Riley for breathing the same air as him, possibly having a virus that could damage his immune system. A smile formed on Riley's face as she stood up and started walking towards John, a slight spring in her step happy that she wouldn't be forced to spend any more time around his sister alone, the movement did nothing to improve Cameron's already confused emotional range. Having seen the look that his Terminator protector shot the human girl, John carefully positioned himself between the two; it might have been an inconspicuous move, one that no one would have given a second look; but Cameron having her eyes seemingly stuck on him gave John the same look she had earlier when he told her Riley's name.

Heading towards the door, his cyborg deciding it would be best if she were the first to leave and the blonde who was trying her hardest to force her way into his life behind him; John was wondering if it would have been better if he pretended to be asleep when she phoned him up. Falling into stride next to Cameron and hearing Riley have to speed up to walk on his only free side, John bit his tongue as he shot the brunette that could at times pass as human a look; their last three conversations hadn't ended well and it was becoming harder for him to understand why she was there at all anymore. Her lying to him, saying that she loved him and he loved her after his mum had trapped her between two trucks and he had to get her chip out broke something inside of him; he couldn't remember the last time anyone had told him that they loved him and it being the truth. That was why he froze when she said it, he wanted it to be true and he needed it to be true. Then there had been Cameron telling him he couldn't be trusted anymore, that pretty much seemed like a joke to him, but the need to retaliate overwhelmed John and he told her he didn't have to prove anything to her.

"Hey you ok?" Riley asked having watching John zone out on them, it hadn't been the first time she'd seen him do it either; after he'd skipped out on English and just sat on the grass he'd had the same vacant expression on his face as well. No, not vacant; but distant like there was something important only he could see.

"Yeah I'm fine," he replied smiling at her for a second, he could hardly tell her that he was thinking about the last things he and his once turned murderous cyborg posing sister had said to each other; it still sounded insane to his own ears at times and couldn't understand how they'd been able to convince a single person of what would happen.

"We're close to 'The Pier'." Cameron finally spoke sounding like she was talking about some type of mission when she called it The Pier. Stifling her laugh at the odd way she spoke, Riley nudged John in the side to see if he was going to find it funny as well, but it looked like he was used to his sister's way of talking and thought nothing of it. In fact the only one who seemed to notice Riley laughing was Cameron herself, her brown eyes fixed on the female which she was still considering a threat, and was currently deciding the best way to prove this to John.

Wincing slightly as he could see the look the cyborg was giving Riley before she slowly turned to look where she was going; this was only further proof to John that it was a bad idea to be out with both of them at any time in his life. Cameron had been right though, and they were near the pier; full of kids with their parents running around and having fun, freezing mid-step as he took in what was happening, John couldn't help but compare what was happening for these children to his own life growing up. Either being tossed from foster home to foster home, and making a nice sized criminal record with it; or spending his time in jungles training, to become a man when he wasn't even a teenager yet.

"I come here all the time, and thought you might enjoy it." Riley said wrapping her arm around John's and pulling him towards the swarm of people. Having stopped at the comment, the brown eyed cyborg was forced to speed up if she wanted to be able to keep John in her sights, her CPU telling her that Riley dragging him away could be an effective and easy way to rid the world of John Connor. The limp in leg non-existent as she was able to catch the pair just before they started to blend in the crowd that seemed to grow with each second, her eyes once again narrowing on Riley.

Forcing a smile onto his face as he looked around, John was ready to scream. This was what she called him up for and dragged him out of bed? People walking around the pier doing absolutely nothing in their free time, he could have been doing nothing right now in bed; however laws dictated that he had to be polite if he were to seem normal. Looking like he was merely taking in what was happening around him, teenagers skipping school, people on dates, adults not at work; but in reality much like Cameron was at his side, John was trying to find anything that would be a threat or even looking for an escape route.

"Yeah it's great," he replied making his smile seem more believable, looking to his side it was clear that Cameron had found something more interesting than he had anyway. Eyes filled with the curiosity that John realised to his annoyance he still thought was cute, he watched as the Terminator protector started her slow walk towards a mime performer; her head cocking to the side as she stared up at it having no idea what was going on. It was at times like this, he realised just how the future must be, if something like a mime needed so close inspection to see what it was doing. "We never really had mime's back at home." John told Riley knowing that he might have been the only one to not think Cameron was acting odd with her closeness to the performer. Pulling the other female along with him, as he neared his _sister_ someone banged into John's side knocking him slightly. Instincts born from the need to see every danger, he spun on the spot to see just who had knocked into him; briefly catching the azure eyes that hit his, before he was pulled away.

"You don't have to make excuses; I mean everyone can tell she's a little slow." Riley said laughing slightly as Cameron continued to stare at the mime, missing the look John threw her for saying it, as well as the fact he was trying to look back over his shoulder. "Come on, we'll get some cotton candy." She added dragging him to one of the stalls away from where the mime was, not knowing just where they were going; John allowed himself to be dragged to the stall. His green eyes once again working into overdrive as he stared at everyone who went past and gave him a second look, "We'll take two." She told the woman working behind the stall, before turning to look at John. "Hey, that's five bucks." Turning to ask her just what she was talking about, having been taken out of his thoughts; he watched as Riley pointed at the woman behind them.

With a slight roll of his eyes, John pulled the money out of his jean pockets as Riley took her candy leaving him there scratching his head, in the few days he'd known her she'd already had him buy her food twice; just what did she think he was? Taking his own cotton candy from her and looking down at the pink fluff of whatever it was meant to have been, John tore a piece of it off before slowly letting it melt on his tongue. Before anything else could be said or done, Cameron appeared in front of the pair looking slightly annoyed that John had walked off without her.

"I was told to not let you out of my sight." She told him once again, wondering why when he had already been told what Sarah ordered her to do; he had gone off with Riley. A sarcastic smile formed on John's face as he handed the cotton candy out to Cameron who took it not understanding what it was, looking up she watched as Riley bit into her own and copied the action before pausing and looking back at John. "This contains high levels of sugar, food colouring and artificial flavours." She stated not knowing why someone would eat something that would only damage their bodies if taken in an extreme amount, shaking his head at what she had just told him; he reached over and tore another piece off before eating it once again, having Cameron once again copy him, this time allowing the sugar to melt on her tongue.

Having watched the interaction between brother and sister, it was clear to Riley that something wasn't right with the story she'd been given. John had told her that they'd been in a car crash when he was trying to teach Cameron how to drive, but he was the only one in their family that had any cuts on him, then there was the fact how his sister had got right in her face when she was in their house. When she put that with the way they seemed to be acting, Cameron was far too protective for a sister; or at least that was how she saw it; the unnatural closeness she needed to have around John made her definitely think that there was something more between the two of them, keeping it in the family maybe.

"John, I'm going to make a phone call." Riley said looking at him before pointing at the payphone sets of in the centre of the pier, nodding his head at her, he turned away looking out towards the edge of the pier railing with people were using the set of binoculars to stare at the oddest things they could find in the distance. "Cameron, come with me." She added as an afterthought looking at the brunette girl, she didn't think that John would tell her why his sister felt she needed to be around him all the time; maybe she'd get the answer from the source itself. Looking between the two of them, Cameron was more than ready to say once again she wasn't allowed to let John out of her sight, but he gave her s slight push in the direction before turning away once again to let them walk away. "So you're really close to John," she said looking at the girl to the left of her who hadn't taken her eyes off of the payphones that they were walking towards. "I mean you really love him." instead of replying to what was said, Cameron turned to stare at Riley.

Shoving his hands into his pockets as he waited, he watched as the two walked away not really sure if it was a good idea to send Cameron with Riley, after all the only thing missing from the obvious fact she didn't like the girl was his cyborg tearing Riley's spine out and putting it on display entitled 'Don't fuck with me.'. Tilting his head to the side and feeling his neck pop, hairs started to stand on end; and the feeling that someone was watching him, John turned to see just who or what it was. Eyes widening in shock mixed in with fear, standing less than fifty feet away from him was one of the last things he wanted to see. Cromartie. The now blonde Terminator was staring right back at John, recognition no doubt forming faster for the machine as he started to push people out of his way to get to his target. Spinning on his heel he shot towards his bodyguard grabbing her by the wrist as she stood off to the side, away from Riley as she spoke on the phone.

"We have to go. Now!" he told Cameron trying to move her in the direction he needed, unfortunately for him; her brown eyes had already spotted the murderous machine and she was more than ready to shove John to the side to stop it. "No! I said we're going." He shot at her keeping hold of her wrist, he'd heard about her last fight with a machine and how it seemed ready to destroy her; that was a risk he couldn't take as well as the fact it would only draw attention to them. Feeling her resistance lessen, John took off in the only direction that would have him try to get past Cromartie, dragging Cameron behind him as Riley turned to see what was happening.

"Hey, John!" she shouted dropping the phone as her date and his sister seemed quite ready to flee from someone, moving to follow them and see just what was going on; she was knocked to the floor by a blonde male staring at the retreating pair. "Hey asshole, don't you watch where you're going?" she shouted at him, it was never said that she'd back down from a fight; that was until he pulled a gun out and took aim at John and Cameron.

Screams filled the air as the gun was fired, eyes turned to look at the obviously insane man who was still walking towards the teens gun in hand. What worried the numerous people more than him however was the girl that was shot, just stood back up following the boy who hadn't stop running, instead he chose to head towards the end of the pier before climbing over the railing and helping his injured companion do the same, as the gun totting maniac came closer. In either a need to protect the teenager's or people's innate need to be drawn to dangerous situations a number of by-standers started to head in the direction that the trio had gone, almost like they didn't believe it was real.

"John." Cameron spoke quietly looking over the edge of the small platform they were on and the drop into the water below the, but he didn't hear Cameron talk; too busy looking at the rapidly approaching Terminator. "I can't swim," she added sounding just as desperate as she did the time she was pinned between two trucks and was begging for him to not take her chip out.

"It's never too late to learn." The future saviour of the world replied as he turned back to face her, for the second time that day catching two azure eyes that seemed to be so familiar to him for reasons he didn't know. Not waiting for Cameron to reply to his statement, John placed one hand on her back and gave her a shove off of the platform; before jumping less than a second later hearing more gunshots behind him, before it felt like fire was lacing up and down his side.

"JOHN!"

"ZACH!" the cry of two names didn't seem to faze the crowd, as several more gun shots were fired into the water seemingly a dead aim, no one was apparently going to try and stop the male that had the gun as everyone waited with baited breath. After what seemed to be an eternity, ripples started to form in the water as John emerged gasping and coughing up water trying desperately to stay afloat; unaware of the commotion above him or the fact that Cromartie was looking for a way to get down there without having to jump in.

"Cameron." He coughed out trying to see his Terminator protector, using one arm to keep himself up as the other was covering the small bullet wound; John tried to take in a deep breath without casuing himself too much pain before diving back under the water. The poor visibility made hard for him to see anything under there as well as small pieces of rubbish flowing into his eyes, it was only the pale scraping down his leg that let him know where she was.

The second time John emerged from the water, it was to cheers of the crowd that had only now started to phone for someone to go and help them, now that the gunner was gone they seemed to have developed a sense of compassion. Arms wrapped around the Terminator's stomach as he tried to kick his legs, fighting against the weight she added to him almost dragging him back under the water; John slowly made his way over to the ground side of the pier, pulling Cameron's body up onto it with no small struggle as he dropped onto the ground. Having expected her to get back up once they got out of the water, coughing on the floor John stared at her not knowing what was wrong; sure he heard her say that she couldn't swim but he'd seen her take more than that before.

"Cam," he whispered kneeling above her, soaking wet brown hair was stuck to the floor beneath her as the cyborg made no attempt to wake up or do anything else. "Hey." This time he ran his hand down the side of her face, stopping at her neck when he couldn't feel a pulse coming from her, rational thought left John's mind as panic started to set in, surely she couldn't have drown after those short few seconds under water but that was what it seemed like had happened. Placing his hands gently on her body, where he knew her lungs should be he started to press down hard, survival training when he was seven had taught him all about CPR. Covering her mouth with his own, John let a single long breath leave his body hoping that it'd help her, but to no avail; desperation now filled him as he returned to try and force the water out of her lung once again pressing down on her body. "Come on you've got to breath." He whispered once again, covering her mouth again, this time remembering to pinch her nose shut, John let another breath fill her body. Pulling away a single strand of his own hair stuck to Cameron's face thanks to his own attempt at a haircut, whipping it away from her face, he almost jumped back in shock when her eyes opened up slowly a soft blue before returning to the shade of brown he'd become more then used to. Unsure of why he was leaning over her the way he was, or the closeness of their faces; Cameron was able to taste a foreign flavour on her lips that when her tongue shot up to touch seemed to have a after taste of the cotton candy she'd been eating before. Seemingly in this desperation to get her out of the water, John had long forgotten about the very real threat Cromartie posed, only moving his body to drop a feather light kiss to Cameron's head.

A/n: **The reason he tried CPR will be explained as will his panic when Cameron didn't have a pulse**


	2. Chapter 2

Having had their own version of a hard day, neither Derek of Sarah were expecting a soaking wet Cameron to arrive back home; half carrying an equalling wet John who had all the colour drained from his face as he kept one hand on his side, his eyes turning glassy and starting to roll into the back of his head didn't seem to help matters either.

"John." Sarah gasped rushing other to the cyborg that was holding her son up, within seconds both she and Derek had taken him from Cameron and quickly positioned him on the couch trying to make him more comfortable while they tried to see what was wrong with him. "He's been shot," she added quietly looking at the small round wound in his side, her eyes found Derek's before turning to watch the Terminator designed to protect him enter the kitchen; the older male shook his head unsure of what to think of the machines actions. With both his mum and uncle knowing full well they couldn't risk taking him to a hospital, instead they tried to stop the blood flow as well as keep John awake; within seconds however Cameron had returned to the trio a medical kit in her hands.

"John needs to have the bullet removed." She told them as if they didn't know, her own bullet wound was a minor inconvenience to her at the time with her mission still being to protect John, as well as the fact she knew he would see to her when he was better. Derek looked ready to jump up at the accusation he or Sarah didn't know how to look after John or treat him, but any sharp insulting reply was cut short as Sarah stood soon after he did staring at Cameron; backing away from both the couch and her son, hands shaking badly. This seemed to be all the Terminator needed, bending down to the position that the two had been seconds before, slowly she opened the medical case and took an antiseptic swab before turning to the barely conscious John. "This will hurt." She told him.

If he heard the words or not, it didn't stop John's body from lifting up when the wound was cleaned thoroughly by Cameron, who placed one hand on his stomach and pushed him back down to the couch. For all his words of not trusting her, apart from pacing like a caged animal Derek did nothing to stop Cameron as she continued to clean the hole in his nephew's side; the only worry came when she pulled out what looked to be nothing more than a set of tweezers. A loud groan of pain was followed by John trashing madly as they were slowly inserted into his side, despite her needing to keep him safe; Cameron was still lacking a soft touch while doing so as she once again pushed his body back down.

"John you need to relax." Sarah told her son hovering at the end of the couch taking his hand in hers, apart from everything that had happened with Cyberdyne this was the first time she had seen him actually hurt like this. Small cuts that healed into scars, no doubt littered some part of his body from his training over the years, but there had never been a time when he was shot or apparently in so much pain. Rubbing her thumb over his knuckles as a tiny bullet was retrieved with the tweezers and dropped to the side; a second antiseptic swab was taken out again cleaning the rapidly reddening flesh as well as wiping away the blood which was now flowing freely. "You've done this before?" Sarah asked Cameron watching as the machine never took her eyes off of her take, a clear sign that she was always fully committed to her task; or was that anything which involved John?

"In the future, I'm one of the few that John trusts enough to patch him up after a mission if he's injured." She replied, there was a hint of something in her voice when she gave the answer; not quite pride but something akin to it. Still hovering in the background, Derek wouldn't admit it but he knew they didn't have anyone or anything better at this right now, after everything that happened that day they couldn't turn to Charley and even then his ties to John could cause him to slip. With a barely audible snip Cameron tore a long piece of cotton before threading it through a needle on the first try, if anyone had seen her do so outside of either him or Sarah they would have thought she either had some training or she had nerves of steel. "You'll need to hold him down," Cameron told Sarah watching as John's breathing finally came back to a normal level, with the lack of painkillers that would be needed that would numb him as well as put him in a delirious state; Cameron needed John to stay still while she closed the wound.

Waiting for her to finish stitching up her sons wound, Sarah stood and grabbed hold of Cameron pushing the machine towards the kitchen, the sense of worry of his well being had left her now and it was replaced with anger. Anger at the cyborg she had told to not let John out of her sight and she brought him home after he was shot.

"What was that?" she asked getting right in Cameron's face, eyes blazing. "I leave John with you for less than a day and he gets shot. What part of don't let him out of your sight didn't you understand?" staring at the older woman, she understood the reason for her being annoyed both of them wanted to keep John safe, but she didn't know why she was taking the brunt of the accusations when it was down to John's inability to follow orders.

"John refused to listen to me, when I told him I wasn't meant to let him out of my sight. He ran away to spend time with his friend." Cameron answered the same annoyance in her voice when she said friend, it was clear to her that Riley wanted more than just friendship with John, just as she was aware that referring to someone by their name was a sign of respect, a reason she refused to do so. Her reply wasn't met with the most diplomatic of responses by Sarah, a sharp slap to her face didn't even force her head to turn, but she did take on a shocked look; eyes widening slightly and mouth dropping open.

Turning away from her Sarah walked back into the living room, Derek had pulled a chair over to the couch and was staring down at John before slowly lifting his head up to look at her having more then heard the conversation. He didn't like Cameron nor did he trust her, but it seemed that he was the only one who saw John for what he was, a sixteen year old that had the fate of the world thrust on him as soon as he was born. Yes he wanted and needed him to become _The John Connor_ and he would do anything for that to happen, and while he had lived with Terminator's trying to kill him he was still nothing more than a teen; and all teenagers rebelled, it was just in John's case that him rebelling could get him killed.

"It won't be the first time he gets shot." Derek spoke, there had been times worse than this when soldiers had been worried John wouldn't survive, his near suicidal nature in the future meant he was always on the front line fighting Skynet and whatever they threw at him. "He's always going to be in danger."

"That's what we're trying to stop." Sarah said looking at John's uncle like he was a child, at times she tried to see anything of Kyle in him but found it impossible in the most part; their loyalty to John and worry about what would happen if Judgement wasn't stopped were the only things there. Her answer didn't seem to appease him, for the first time Derek wondered just how much of it did Sarah really see, how much did she understand after everything that had happened to her and John. She was constantly clinging onto the thought that Judgement could be stopped in this time, that was something even John didn't believe when he sent him back, the mission was about keeping him safe and preparing for the inevitable.

"It'll never stop," came the monotone reply from the doorway, turning to look over her shoulder Sarah glared at Cameron, the machine didn't even have a red cheek which wasn't surprising considering the slap was nothing she'd had done to her and yet was able to just get back up afterwards. "With every move you make to stop Skynet, the timeline changes to accommodate for it to be built. Judgement day is inevitable, you can only postpone it." Eyes flashing between the pair, Sarah had a million things to say and yet was having trouble forming the words, they thought they stopped Skynet back in 1995 but Cameron showing up in 1999 showed her she was wrong; but she couldn't believe that they couldn't stop Judgement day or Skynet.

"So what's the point?" she asked moving away from the couch and standing by the window and staring out at the perfect lawn before turning around to look at them. "If we can't stop it then why try to fight Skynet, it'll happen anyway so why not just let it?" the simple question had been one that Derek had voiced before he and his spider group had been sent back, he wasn't given an answer by John though; instead he merely smiled at him a thoughtful look on his face before he engaged the time displacement machine.

"With every choice we change something," it was no surprise that it was Cameron who was the one to answer. "Today John stopped me from engaging Cromartie in a fight and pushed me off of the pier before jumping himself, resulting in him being shot. In a different timeline, he could have ran on his own and the bullet would have hit a different place in his body sending ripples through time; it mightn't seem like an important detail at the minute either way John would still be shot. But right now John was shot in the side, narrowly avoiding any organs from being damaged thanks to his decision to take me with me, if he had been shot in a different place; his hip, leg, arm it could cause damage to the bone that would prevent him from operating at one hundred percent after Judgement day and cost him his life." While neither of them seemed to understand fully what Cameron had just told them, somewhere in the jumble it made sense. Even if they couldn't stop Skynet every decision they made could give John a better chance of survival and thus winning the war in the future.

A groan filling the air, bringing the three of them back to the fact that John was still on the couch; just how much he had heard from their conversation was another thing as he was only now seeming to come back to the real world after having jumped into the pier and tried CPR on Cameron. Wincing from the renewed fiery pain in his side, trying to sit up was hindered by the large hand on his stomach pushing him back onto the touch, lighter then Cameron's had when she needed him to not move.

"Easy buddy, you can't move too much." Derek said being the closest to him at the time, a look between the three that had been talking said that the conversation would be stopped at least for now. Seeing that for now he was going to be ok, he stood up from his chair the guns that he and Sarah had taken to try and save Charley's wife were still in the house and needing to be cleaned to make sure they'd work the next time they were needed, which was looking more and more likely that it'd be tomorrow. With Sarah and the metal there, John had enough people there to run around for him while he was able to milk his being shot. "He'll need something to drink., sugar and maybe a pint of blood." He tossed over his shoulder as he walked out the door, the two women who were left in the room watching John try and sit back up stared at each other.

Without a word, Cameron turned and walked back towards the kitchen knowing full well that Sarah would have ordered her to anyway; despite her telling them only months ago that she only followed future John's orders she had found herself doing what they or asked or rather said more and more. She wasn't sure when it had started, but found that at least with John if she did something he asked of her and it made him happy then he became tactile with her, sometimes it would be placing his hand on her shoulder for a brief second; or dropping his hand onto her back and then pulling it either up or down as he moved away. Even in these ways she liked John touching her, which was why his sudden friendship with Riley was something she didn't understand or think he should continue, since he had met his new friend, Cameron was aware that he had been much shorter with her on two separate occasions. Water and a bar of chocolate in hand, it didn't occur to her that what she had said to him when she turned bad was a factor.

Returning to the living room, she watched as Sarah helped John into a sitting position careful to not touch his fresh stitches. To Cameron even moving him that much was a bad idea, his body's muscles would flex and relax which might risk the wound tearing open again which would cause more damage, no the more efficient idea would have been for either of them to position the glass at John's mouth while he rested. She wouldn't bring this point up though, she had seen the reactions from both Sarah and Derek when she had voiced her opinion, apparently she wasn't allowed to voice what she thought was the best way to look after John.

"You require fluids to help your body recover." She told him handing the glass out, for a few seconds she watched and waited for John to take the drink from her, it was only when he reached out for the drink did his arm start to shake; no doubt the adrenaline from what had happened and him being shot was the cause of spilling some of the water from the glass.

"Here," Sarah whispered pulling the water from him, for perhaps the first time since she found them; Cameron watched as she acted like a parent should for her child. Holding the glass in one hand, Sarah helped gently pull John forwards as she placed the glass at his mouth allowing him to drink from it, it was only when he started to cough did she turn to look at the cyborg who was watching with unadulterated curiosity in her eyes. "A little help?" she asked the softness having left her voice, not sure what she was meant to do Cameron walked around to the other side of the couch where John sat and stared at his back as he coughed. Her CPU loaded up the situation to her when someone was coughing, slowly she picked her hand up and started to rub John's back as her files told her to, her solution seemed to be helping as the coughing started to slow down as his breathing was once again becoming regular. Seeing that John still had a problem breathing, Cameron slipped her hand under his top and started to rub his back once again just as gently, for some reason she didn't understand this had the opposite effect then what it should have. John's skin started to heat up as he started to cough violently.

"It's ok, I'm good now Cameron." He coughed out as she moved her hand from his back, head cocked to the side as she wondered just he was ok if he were still coughing. "Nothing like getting shot to make the day complete hey?" John asked rhetorically to both her and Sarah who merely smiled at her son, the question seemed to confuse Cameron more than him saying he was good now. She could think of a lot of things that would make the day complete more than getting shot, shaking her head Sarah took the glass of water and placed it on the floor before walking towards the kitchen leaving the two alone. Almost forgetting that she was there, John allowed his still aching body to lay back on the couch eyes closed, at least until that brief second when his body hits Cameron's and his eyes snapped back open; looking up as her own brown eyes drilled into his own head still cocked to the side. "What?" he asked defensively grabbing hold of the couch as he moved himself from her lap, he found himself becoming more and more defensive when it was needed around the Terminator that only until a few weeks ago he was fine with.

"At the pier, what were you doing?" Cameron asked, it was his turn to be confused by her question; he'd been doing a lot of things at the pier. Being forced to pay for food for Riley once again, spending an uncomfortable time with both Cameron and Riley, being chased and then shot; having to drag her out of the water while bleeding, she'd have to be clearer. Staring at him waiting for an answer that wasn't coming, Cameron shifted closer to John on the couch who thanks to the pain in his side was unable to move away quick enough, one hand grabbing hold of his shirt as her face came closer to his. John couldn't stop his eyes from slowly drifting shut the distance between them now minimal. That was until he felt her blow air into his partially open mouth, snapping his eyes open for the second time, he stared at Cameron who still looked confused at either what he had done, or the fact that he hadn't answered her question. "You did that when you pulled us out of the water," she told him, she didn't have to be awake to know it had to have been him that got them out the water; there had been no one else there. "Why?" she asked once again. Quickly and ignoring the pain in his side, or the rapid beating of his heart that he was sure she could hear, John pushed himself from the couch.

"It's called CPR. When someone stops breathing they use it." he snapped not looking at Cameron, as he made for the stairs he was trying to convince himself that there was no way he had been about to kiss her when she leant in like that. But if that were true then why was his heart beating like he'd just run a marathon.

"I don't breathe John." Cameron replied watching as he made his way upstairs and vanished from sight, she was sure that he knew that fact; after all she didn't have lungs so she didn't have a reason to breathe.

--

If he'd gone to bed early and in a bad mood, it was nothing to how John woke up the next day. Every time he rolled to his side, he'd woken up in pain and the times he'd actually been able to fall asleep where no better, he kept picturing Cameron telling either his mum or Derek that he had tried to kiss he the day before and that was before she mocked him with her claims of loving him, it was safe to say that he wasn't looking forward to his next meeting with his Terminator protector.

His day got worse within seconds of him climbing out of his bed, his phone that had been left in his jean pockets wouldn't turn on, no doubt a result of the water damage from jumping off of the pier to escape Cromartie. Grabbing fresh clothes from his wardrobe thanks to his _family_ going shopping while he was forced to go to a school that looked like he'd never set foot back in already, taking a deep breath before leaving his room, and walking down the hall towards the bathroom hoping a hot shower would help him relax not bothering to have taken one the day after they arrive back home, he had started to smell. The sound of someone walking around in there, however put a block on his plans to start the day, irritated and resisting the age to growl John punched the door instead of knocking and waited for whoever was in there to come out; having thought it would have been his mum or even Derek who seemed to think showers were the best thing in the world since coming back to 2007, John's jaw nearly dropped seeing Cameron standing there in nothing but her underwear for the second time.

"I need to use the shower." He told her, his voice coming out deeper then he wanted it to and he was silently cursing himself for it. Credit to him though, he did manage to look past her for a split second and towards the shower to emphasise his point to the Terminator who was in possession of an extremely good looking female body. He was suddenly self conscious of the fact that he was stood there in nothing but a pair of shorts, the female idea of taking clean clothes in with him seemed like a great idea right now.

"I'm not finished." Cameron replied, raising an eyebrow at her John was sure that there was a hint of a smile on her face, and possibly even a small amount of teasing in her voice. Sighing and rolling his eyes, he turned ready to walk away and storm back towards his room and sit there silently fuming while he waited. "John," her voice stopped him mid-step as he was halfway down the hallway, looking over his shoulder at her not knowing why she stopped him instead of hurrying up, her brown eyes seemed to hold the same indecisiveness that she showed when she told him she wasn't sure if Riley was a threat. "I require assistance." In the quietness of the house, Cameron's voice came out soft and sweet like honey, hoping that his face wasn't turning bright red as he felt it burn; John was having trouble wrapping his head around what she'd just said. She needed his help, in the shower? Still being a hormonal sixteen year old looking at someone who looked like Cameron as she stood there in her underwear, John decided a cold shower was a much better option, but he didn't move towards her; not trusting what he'd do if he did. "I still have a bullet in my back."

A sigh that was either relief or disappointment escaped him, and he could only hope that it wasn't as loud as it sounded to him. John slowly made his way back towards the bathroom that Cameron had disappeared in once again, just why he hadn't stayed in his room for an extra thirty minutes he had no idea. It also seemed that his Terminator had no idea of the inner turmoil he was experiencing as he fought against the side of him that said if he told her to Cameron would do anything he asked, but there was the fact that she told him he couldn't be trusted anymore, would ordering to do go into any of the positions he was imagining her in right now give him that trust back.

Closing the door behind him, there was no way he wanted either his mum or uncle to find him in there in his underwear with Cameron who was nearly as naked as he was, while she had trouble doing a lot of things that humans could manage; she was able to pick out either clothes of apparently underwear that made her body look better. Seeing her standing in front of the sink, perfectly straight as she stared into the mirror, John slowly walked over to her before picking up the tweezers that she had apparently taken in with her, unable to stop his eyes travelling up and down the back of her body; he slowly looked up seeing her brown eyes staring back at him. Embarrassed John looked down at the hole in the middle of her back, the wound was just under the bra strap forcing John to bite back the curse thinking that fate was pushing him once again. Yes John look at all that skin. That soft skin that he could smell from the tiny distance between them, but you can't touch no matter how much you want to.

Forcing his hand to stay steady, he placed his free hand on Cameron's shoulder making it seem like it was to stop her from moving even though they both knew there was every few things that could move her if she didn't want it to. He knew that he had removed bullets and glass from her, but that was when she still had clothes on and he working around the holes in the fabric. With the bullet being further in her body then his own had, John unconsciously took a step closer to Cameron just leaving enough space for him to be able to see what he was doing without having to bend down even if that didn't seem like such a bad idea. His hand on Cameron's shoulder tightening slightly as he used the tweezers to get a hold of the bullet before pull it out of her back, looking back up into the mirror and seeing that she was still staring back at him; John took in the distance or lack thereof between them and how almost possessively he was holding onto her. Not able to fight the temptation he dragged his hand down her arm instead of just pulling it away, John wasn't sure if he imagined the shiver he felt run through Cameron's body before he took a step back.

"Thank you," she said her voice still coming out softly as she walked past him and towards the door, feeling like he'd been holding his breath for the entire time the two of them had been in the bathroom John exhaled slowly knowing full well that there was no chance of him getting the image of Cameron in her underwear for the second time out of his head. However with her no longer there, he was able to smell the saltiness of his own body from the day before, and the reason he had even been up came rushing back to him, stripping himself of his underwear and stepping into the shower, he had only just closed the curtain when the bathroom door reopened. "John a cold shower would be the best solution."

Able to dress before John was finished in the shower, Cameron sat on the plush couch that less than twenty four hours ago held the bleeding John Connor, looking down at her bare arm she picked her hand up and placed it on her shoulder before dragging it downwards like he had but was unable to reproduce the shiver that travelled through her at his touch, or the goose- bumps that formed unexpectedly. She would have to find a way for him to do so again so she could catalogue what happened allowing her to understand it better. The doorbell ringing brought her from the thoughts of a situation where John would touch her in that manner again, unaware of anyone apart from the pregnant woman next door who would be there; here brown eyes narrowed as she cautiously approached the door ready to attack anything that would be a threat wanting to harm John. Perhaps she should attack anyway, was the single thought seeing Riley on the other side of the door.

"Is John there?" the blonde asked not feeling entirely safe around his sister, her second encounter hadn't gone much better than her first and she was still sure that Cameron had some type of learning difficulty even if John wouldn't admit to it.

"He's in the shower." Cameron replied staring at her intensely, after her answer she had been more than ready to close the door on the other girl thinking the point was clear; John was there but wouldn't be coming to the door to talk to her.

"Is it ok if I come in and wait then?" Riley asked as she managed to slip in-between Cameron and walked into the house, turning around the machine glare wondering just where she had learnt her manners, she hadn't been invited inside the house and yet she had walked in anyway; surely that was proving she was a threat. "What was that at the pier yesterday?" she asked looking at the brunette who closed the door and took a seat on the couch staring at her much like she had done the day before not answering her question. "You know that guy shooting and you and John," pausing as if she had only just realised something Riley stared at Cameron in shock. "You were shot, how come you're fine now?"

Before an answer that would either send her running or make more questions was given by Cameron, John appeared at the top of the stairs watching the two with more worry then the day before; slowly making his way down allowing each step to hit the floor hard making sure they knew he was there. Both of the women turned to watch him, smiles forming on both of their faces even if it was lesser in Cameron's case.

"Hey," Riley grinned as he finally stood at the bottom of the stairs, "I had to make sure you were ok." She said before flashing a look at Cameron who still hadn't taken her eyes off of her since she walked in the house, "both of you I mean, after yesterday. That was just crazy." Smiling slightly at her, John was more than aware of the look Cameron was giving them; brown eyes narrowed in almost calculating his move and expecting him to do something.

"Yeah crazy," he laughed thinking about just much crazier his life was then the day before, trying sending your father back through time to make sure you're born even if he is younger then you are, or being a messiah to everyone who's going to be left after Judgement day if they didn't find a way to stop it, that was crazy. "About that, I need to talk to you." John added making sure she understood his point, so far every time he tired to say something Riley took it in her own way or twisted it to make it seem like something else. "Come on," taking her by the arm he started leading her to the door, not waiting for an answer, but stopping to look back at Cameron who was ready to stand up herself. "I'll be back soon." He told her, not even a second past before his _sister_ opened her mouth to argue that she should go with them. "Promise."

Walking down the street silently, Riley kept looking at the side of John's face; for someone that said they needed to talk he hadn't said a word since they left his house and creepy sister behind.

"So, some talk huh." Riley said smiling at him, not even faking a laugh for her benefit John led her towards a small coffee stand. "Oh, I'm not thirsty."

"You can't just turn up like that," he told her ignoring her end statement, he knew that this was going to bring him a head ache as well as trying to convince her to not just turn up at his house knowing doing so would be harder than him telling her she had to tell him the date when she phoned. Already seeing her ready to ask why, he cut her off. "You'd want to come over and that's just the way it is," he added using near enough the same statement that had when telling her about phoning him.

"Is it because of what happened at the pier?" Riley asked leaning forward, "Are your family in some kind of witness protection program?" excitement filled her body thinking about all the reasons why someone would be shooting at him or Cameron, well his sister she could understand; she was weird.

"I'm getting a drink," John told her, standing up before she could ask him anything else, what had started off being a warning about her just turning up at his house was turning into questions that he wasn't ready to answer. Grabbing a bottle of water from the first fridge, he made no effort to go to the till and pay just yet, he needed to waste some time so he could act like he forgot what she just asked him and hoped she didn't try again. Hands dropping to his pocket, John frowned as he remembered his now ruined phone, it was situations like this that he needed one; being bailed out of annoying or awkward situations. Knowing that he couldn't waste too much time in the shop before Riley came looking for him, John made for the till ignoring the nameless faces he past until someone banged into the side of him, recoiling in pain as his hand shot to his fresh wound; he was ready to expect a hand to grab him around the throat. When it didn't happen, he turned to see who it had been, his green eyes widening a small amount at the same familiar azure eyes he saw the day before, before he took in the rest of the all too familiar face.

"Zach?"


	3. Chapter 3

A/n: Yes Claire is calling him zach at the start, and it's because she doesn't know who it really is. This is also done after season 2 of heroes but before 3 so Sylar never got Claire's power

Staring into those blue eyes, that at one time made him think there was a chance of him living a somewhat normal life, one that didn't involve machines trying to kill him or running for his life. However John was left with a choice, he clearly wasn't Zach and if he was honest with himself he never had been either, that meant he could turn away and ignore her; turn away and walk away from her and out of her life much like he had done nearly a year ago, apparently without so much as a second thought. There was only one problem with that idea; the longer he spent thinking about it, the longer he was looking into her eyes, unaware of anything she had been saying.

"What happened to you? Everyone thought you were dead or kidnapped, you just took off in the middle of the night." She spoke still staring at him in shock. He had been her only friend after she gave up her popularity to defend him and then he just disappeared. In the days and weeks that past she hated him for it, she had been his friend on two separate times having to fight for it on the latter occasion and yet he didn't even think highly enough of her to say goodbye or tell her where he was going. In the end though, thoughts of Zach left her head as everything seemed to be moving at a pace too quick for the former cheerleader, and she gave up all thoughts of seeing him again.

"Claire?" John asked almost in a daze and not actually believing it was her in front of him, his much rougher voice brought the tiny blonde from her ramblings about him vanishing from Odessa in the night with no-one having a clue as to what happened, never mind his parents who went on like they didn't have a son; his room converted within days. Him calling her name was enough for her to know that it was Zach in front of her, like a snake she wrapped her arms around his waist locking them securely to make sure he didn't disappear like a ghost much like he had in her dreams following his departure. "I don't." John started not having moved his arms to wrap them around her, still in a state of shock. "What are you doing here?" he managed to get out now looking down at her still hugging him just staring into his chest. Cautiously he followed her suit and hugged her back, more than aware that when he was living in Odessa he would have done so without a thought; but back then he was in hiding and there were certain standards you had to live up to.

Any reply to his question was cut short by the emergence of another blonde walking through the cafe door's, this one much taller than the one that was still holding onto John and was wearing a less friendly look at seeing him. Years of being trained by numerous people, criminals or not, meant that he had developed a sixth sense of knowing when someone was watching him; living in Odessa had allowed him to ignore whoever was watching him, after all who'd want anything with the outcast, Cameron turning up meant he had to know who was watching him at all times once again. Turning to look over his shoulder, John's stomach nearly dropped out. The glare that Riley was giving him said that she was more than willing to kill him or the girl in his arms possibly both, pulling away from Claire caused the smaller girl to look up at him, not aware of just how long they'd stood there; seeing his eyes staring at someone else she followed her own gaze to follow.

"John, I thought you were getting a bottle of water." Riley spoke slowly making her way over to him as she eyed Claire up, the smaller girl looked confused when Zach was met with a different name it was only increased when he turned to face the newcomer ready to deal with it head on. "So what's going on?" she asked with a vague hand gesture now standing in front of both John and Claire, both sets of blue eyes were glued onto the sole male who was looking decidedly more and more uncomfortable and unsure of how he'd gotten himself into his situation, which wasn't helped by the over interested people watching.

"Errm, Riley this is Claire. I knew her when I lived in Odessa." John answered after what seemed to be an eternity of everyone watching him, his reply however didn't seem good enough for the girl that had decided she wanted to know more about him, and in a more claim-full move then she'd used before reached forward to take his hand only for it to be pulled away. "I need to get back anyway." He added suddenly aware of just how open he was to an attack and with no bodyguard there to help him, placing the water that was still in his hand back down, John started walking towards the door unconsciously aware of the footsteps following him. Spinning around after a few seconds, not like the thought that someone was trailing him without his say so, John found the two blondes at minutes ago he had been talking to and was hit with the rudeness of him just walking away. "You can come with me," he said not sound all that sure if he wanted them to and was just as unsure as to who he was talking to. It didn't seem like either Claire or Riley were going to be the one to say that they wouldn't go with him, and like a mirror image of the trip to the pier were Cameron replaced the smaller girl they took up positions either side of him.

"Why did she call you John?" Claire asked the question that had been on her mind since the name was spoken, flashing her a look from the corner of his eye knowing now wasn't the best time to try and have the type of conversation that the almost innocent question would need. Standing on the other side of John and having heard what was asked, Riley couldn't stop from looking at Claire like she was retarded, just what type of question was that? Why did she call you John? Maybe because it was his name. With the question unanswered and not looking like it was going to be either, the trio fell into a awkward silence that John had no desire to break for fear of what either of them would do to his body.

The small dirt path that they'd been walking down finally started to clear and the set of new houses began to appear in view. Still in slight shock at seeing his new and more then possibly temporary home John couldn't stop the small smile that formed on his face when he compared it to their last one, first it wasn't blown up and standing half destroyed which was always a plus and then there was the fact that it just looked like more like the houses in Odessa. None of them had been run down or in gang territory because there weren't any gangs around there, of course there were bad things as well; mainly his mum standing outside talking to Kacy with Derek walking towards the shed that now housed their weapons. The less then stealthy entry Riley and Claire were making earned them Sarah's and Kacy's attention, who both turned and stared at John; one looking at him in slight amusement from the look on his own face and the other in annoyance mixed with anger. Neither of their reactions though matched Derek's who was discreetly trying to clean a shotgun he had taken when he and Sarah had left to help Charley. Looking up for a split second to make sure no one was walking over to him, he nearly dropped the gun as he did a double take of John taking _two _girls into the house before his eyes found Sarah's.

Having moved to the couch and sat there like a loyal guard dog after John left, Cameron's head snapped towards the door when it opened and her eyes that seemed to become more emotional each day were filled with something akin to relief at seeing he was ok, which was subsequently dropped when she saw Riley follow him in and then a second girl who was looking decidedly out of place. Standing from the couch, she started to make her way towards the newcomer who was staring at her with a somewhat pleasant smile; it did nothing to stop her CPU from telling her she needed to scan her to see if she was a threat. However John did, having an idea about what she was going to do when he saw her stand up and make her way over to them; he quickly grabbed her by her forearm earning a confused look from his Terminator protector as he pulled her backwards and towards the couch.

"She's fine," John whispered into Cameron's ear still holding onto her arm as they stood cheek to cheek but facing different directions; his green eyes staring at the side of her face as the cyborg turned her head to look at him before letting her eyes drop down to her arm. "I've known her long enough to know she doesn't want to kill me," he continued in his whisper, "so try to not freak her out. If she talks to you, act normal; don't be a freak." Taking in his words as she continued to stare at the side of his face, Cameron was aware of one way to thank someone for giving you advice that would help in the long run, leaning forwards she placed a kiss on his cheek and her mind was assaulted with information. The heat, texture and durability of his skin including the fact that he needed to have a shave to remove himself of the slight growing in stubble, as well as the taste and smell on that his skin carried. It was all sent to her in a second, and being take off guard by the gesture John pulled away letting go of her arm as he did so; this time aware of the opposite happening then earlier in the day, this time her arm seemed to warm up under his touch stunning him. "Riley stay here, Claire come with me." He said walking away from his cyborg protector and towards the kitchen, not before giving her one last confused look; something that was mirrored in her brown eyes.

"Who is she Zach?" Claire asked as soon as they were alone, staring at him as he walked around the unexpectedly small kitchen given the size of the house, pulling two bottles of water from the fridge and placing on in front of her. "And why did Riley call you John?" the distaste on how she said the other girls name was much the same as when Cameron called her his friend, watching as he unscrewed his water and took a long gulp before his eyes finally landed on her; and then flashed out of the kitchen when he heard the door open once again.

"First," John replied walking towards a drawer and pulling out a small knife and stared back at her, with hesitant steps he moved himself in front of her. "I'm going to need you to hold your hand out Claire," he told her with a sigh; he knew that walking over to her with a knife wouldn't fill her with hope but he needed to know that it was her, and not a metal that had stolen her skin. "I need you to trust me," he added when he saw the worry and confusion in her eyes, making sure his statement was said loud enough for Cameron to hear after telling him he couldn't be trusted anymore. She still didn't seem to be convinced but Claire slowly held her hand out towards him. Looking down at the tiny hand which to her credit wasn't shaking. John made a small cut in the palm and then waited, he remembered vividly just how quickly she could heal, something that put Cameron's healing to shame. Not even two seconds later the wound vanished like it was never there. "Sorry about that." He told her sitting opposite the tiny blonde, whose Azure eyes were once again glued to him.

"You still haven't answered me," Claire said not sure why he needed to cut her and then watch as she healed, but it was just one of the things that didn't make sense about him now that he walked right back into her life. There was an unnatural air of importance that he unconsciously carried around that made people way him attention unlike all those times he went unnoticed in Odessa, his walk was firmer, back straighter like that of a fighter. But it was his eyes that puzzled Claire the most and how much they changed, when she thought back his eyes shone with laughter and an almost carefree attitude that had always made her smile; now they looked like they belonged to someone much older. Someone that carried the weight of the world on their shoulders alone and couldn't cope with the burden, those green eyes belonged to someone that was struggling to find out what they were worth to themselves and possibly everyone else. Eyes that held such sadness appearing like they'd never seen a happy day or maybe closer to the mark spent so long looking into hell.

"She called me John, because that's my name." He finally replied after a minute of deciding whether or not to answer the question, "John Connor." The way he said his name, held a slight taste of bitter resentment about that fact. A look of confusion was once again forming on Claire's face, she was about to tell him that she knew that wasn't his name; and if he were in a witness protection program he could tell her. "I want to tell you, but I can't." He added after struggling with himself for a while, John knew that his statement made no sense and the chances are it never would.

"Can't tell me what?" Claire asked not knowing what he was trying to say to her, "John." She pushed getting a feel for the taste of his name on her tongue, it was clear to her that he was hiding something and it cut deeply; after she'd told him about her secret back in Odessa when she didn't have to and here he was keeping something from her. "I trusted you," Claire whispered, not meaning to him cutting her with a knife.

"You don't understand," John replied looking up at her, silently begging for her to try and force him to have to say something more to her. The trademark raised eyebrow that he had seen a lot back when Terminator's and apocalyptic futures were being banished to the back of his mind only revisiting him in nightmares. "Why I was always at your house, the fact that I never tried to have any friends, why I just left suddenly without a word. Everything, I can't tell you. There's a reason." The slight outburst seemed to catch both of them off guard, placing his hand over his eyes for a brief second; John stared past her and towards the living room seeing both his mum and Derek looking back at him, or more importantly at Claire's head. "You just have to trust me, I promise you that I'll tell you everything soon." He added unsure if it were a promise that he could keep or even how much he wanted to, more than aware of the dangers knowing his secret put people in even if she did have her own amazing secret he knew about.

As neither of them knew what else to say and thought the other was going to talk first, the soft nearly unnoticeable sound of feet walking across the wooden floor of the living room headed towards the kitchen. Turning her head to see who was coming in, Claire stared at the brown eyed brown haired girl that John had stopped from coming over when they first walked through the door; offering her a smile that seemed to light up the room, she was greeted with one in return.

"Riley has gone home," Cameron told John pulling up a third seat and seat to his left, merely nodding his head as if he knew she would have he stayed silent now just living in his own thoughts and not doing any introductions.

"I'm Claire," the former cheerleader said trying to fill the silence between the three of them with something, the smile that could very well melt anything still on her face. At first it didn't seem like Cameron was going to reply to the statement, but a well time unnoticed kick to her shin by John changed that.

"I'm Cameron," she grinned once again, his words replaying in her head she quickly turned from the anti-social posing teen into the bubbly chatterbox that she had been when tricking John into thinking she was normal. "So how'd you know John?" she asked her voice taking on a lighter tone as she now fully turned in her chair to look at Claire. Narrowed green eyes stared at his Terminator protector as she was once again doing a flawless job of making someone think she was normal, unable to force himself to stay and there witness her fake emotion when it merely brought everything that he wanted to forget about back up, John pushed his chair away from the table and walked out of the kitchen without so much as a backward glance. Brown and blue eyes watching his movements worry and concern in both of them.

"Oh, I met him in Odessa, he was pretty much the outcast of our school; the weird kid no one wanted to talk to." Claire answered after a few seconds where they watched John vanish into the living room.

Walking out the door of the house needing to get some air, he hadn't expected to be met with any part of his past. His future sure, he was met with that all the time as it constantly came to either kill or save him, but not this. Both mum and uncle once again outside, this time standing side by side having left the house after Riley did was his target, he knew that there was a good chance something would be said about taking someone new to the house and wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

"You're coming with me, we need to get some supplies." Derek said looking at his nephew, happy that he didn't have to go in the house and pull him out; there was no doubt in his mind that it would have been trouble to try it. A nod of the head was all the answer he got from John, as he stated to walk towards the black 4 x4 he and Cameron had taken when they went to buy new computers. Giving Sarah a meaningful look as he picked up a shotgun, a semi automatic .45 and a 9mm semi automatic, handing the .45 out to his nephew as he walked past him and around the truck to the driver's seat; tossing the shotgun into the back and tucking his own pistol into his jeans as John did.

"Don't freak her out," John called to his mum as the car drove away from the house and three women that where now there.

- - -

The car ride started silent, and didn't seem like either male was going to start a conversation, their eyes took in the road ahead of them with disinterest but at the same time more than aware of any threat that might emerge. Far from stupid, John knew that this was more than just a trip for he and Derek to go and get supplies, his mum probably thought that his uncle would be able to convince him to do nothing that would have people take an interest in him; maybe she was right and it would be for the best, but that didn't mean he'd listen to her.

"So," Derek started looking at John quickly, "you brought another one home. I don't know just how you managed to bring two of them the same day; it's hard to find women that are into that type of stuff even in the future, next time though tell me and I'll make sure that the house is empty for you." He finished with a smirk, having thought his nephew had something planned when he went back home, the insinuation was something not lost on John who was looking at him slightly wide eyed.

"What! No that wasn't what I was... we weren't going to." Unable to get his words out and going slightly red faced he settled for crossing his arms over his chest and staring forwards, trying his best to block out his uncles laughter. It was only after he was still trying to look angry did he realise that it was the first time he'd heard him laugh since Derek found them, given where he came from though it was no surprise he didn't seem to have a sense of humour; having machines chase you all the time would do that.

Flashing him a look from the corner of his eye, Derek had to fight off the smirk on his face happy that he'd managed to embarrass John; it was important that he had times where he could still be a teenager and a major part of that was being embarrassed by family members whenever they thought it would be funny. Or so he'd been told. Pulling up outside a K-Mart, with some dangerous driving and cutting other people off, the resistance fighter managed to get a parking space as close to the store as possible making any escape they'd need all that easier.

"You're insane, you know that." John shot at him with a small smile seeing the looks the pair were getting off of customers that were walking out of the store and witnessed the whole thing. Repositioning his t-shirt to make sure his gun was covered, he walked alongside his uncle both of them taking in everything they could as was often the case when they went somewhere public; the size of the shop, how big the doors were, what type of doors they were, how far away from the car would they be parked, how quick could they cover that distance, anything that they could use for cover. It was all important to make sure they did this without so much as a second thought in case a Terminator would show up, and based on Cromartie at the pier it was no longer just being paranoid; their methods of trying to find John were becoming better and better with each day.

"The Tin-miss didn't like you leaving the house with Riley," Derek spoke again bringing up the subject that he wanted to talk about, as he grabbed hold of a basket outside the store and walked in, not looking at John once as he spoke. "If I didn't know any better I'd say the metal was getting jealous, but I do know better and I know they can't feel emotion." The last part of his statement seemed to be more to reinforce the point to John that Cameron was lying to him about what she said in the warehouse, the sixteen year old had no doubt that his mum had told Derek about it at a time when John couldn't hear them; possibly even that night when he fell asleep on the chairs.

Not having a reply to the statement, John decided on staying silent as they walked around the store; they were both determined to get him to have the thought that Cameron couldn't feel anything imprinted in his brain. But it was so easy for them to say that, his mum might have heard the words he Terminator said trying to stop him from removing her chip and in the end prevent her from killing him, but she hadn't seen the way that Cameron had looked at him when she had said it. The adoration that shone through the tears, John had no doubt she was still bad when she had said it to him and merely wanted him to let her go, but deep down on some level he did believe her and that was what scared him more than anything else.

- - -

"They thought he was gay?" Sarah repeated looking at Claire, her original thought that been that John was trying to push her with bringing someone else to the house and his request that she _doesn't freak her out_ was going to be ignored; with the older woman more than happy to give the small blonde the same silent treatment that Riley had received. The only problem was that the diminutive female seemed to be full of energy and even Cameron who for some reason she could only guess John had to do with was talking to her like she was a person made her more than aware of why she had been able to trick him.

"Yeah," she laughed looking at John's mum and what she guessed to be sister even if no one had said it yet, finding it funny that they hadn't known. She was still having trouble wrapping her head around the fact that Zach was really John; the puzzle surrounding him hadn't been cleared up by either Cameron or Sarah so she was going to hold him to his promise that he'd tell her everything later on. "You could tell it bothered him, but he never tried to stop the rumours by getting a girlfriend," she continued not thinking about it and wondering why he never had; it wasn't that he was unattractive and couldn't have got a girlfriend, and she knew that he wasn't gay so there had to have been another reason. "In the end I felt bad for him; I'd gone around with people saying it about him. But when we became friends, I saw how bad it was for him. This one time I knocked out my former best friend for saying that he was a girlfriend." She finished before bursting into a fit of laughter thinking of the memory when he'd had everyone vote for her as homecoming queen.

"John isn't gay," Cameron finally spoke having stayed silent throughout the exchange, "his body releases too much testosterone around females of his age." Her own warning about not being a freak went unheeded as she earned a bewildered look from Claire and an incredulous one from Sarah. Realising she'd created a uncomfortable moment, the cyborg effort what she hoped to have been an embarrassed smile before turning away once again. She had her own reasons to continuing to spend time around John's newer friend, she had been able to scan the tiny blonde to see if she was a threat but much like with Riley hadn't been able to come up with an answer, which had resulted in her staying around to try and find out.

Before anymore talk about whether the future saviour of the world was homosexual or not could take place, the front door opened revealing the male they were talking about and Derek in a conversation of their own.

"I'm telling you John, I need to make sure that your aims up to scratch. Tomorrow I'll take you to a range so we can check what you need work on." The older man said before either of them seemed to know that there was anyone in the living room watching them. Five pairs of eyes hit each others, three of them green, one brown and one blue as they all took in each other being in the house; almost like they shouldn't have been there and were interrupting something. Which in John and Derek's case they had been. "We brought pizza." He added taking the box that was in his nephew's hand and holding it up like a peace offering, however it didn't stop the silence that had filled the house as each of them seemed to be waiting for Claire to ask why John would need to go to a range to practise his aim.

"Place it on the floor, and back out of the room slowly." John advised taking a small step back towards the door as Derek followed the order and made sure the three women could see just where he put the pizza before joining his nephew in leaving the house and closing the door behind them. Almost as if they were worried that either one of the three that had been watching them would come out and attack, John and Derek made their way back to the 4 x 4 and climbed in, not taking their eyes off of the front door of the house. "How long before they eat the pizza and come looking for us?" he asked his uncle unsure if the two of the three had been turned into Terminators and the other one was bad again, he could have sworn he saw their eyes flash when they walked in.

"I'm not sure, but if they come for us it's everyman for himself." Derek replied looking at his nephew before his gaze turned to the shotgun still in the back seat. For a few minutes the both of them just sat there in silence awaiting their deaths for something they weren't sure they did. As one they turned to face each other confusion etched in their eyes. "Why exactly are we out here?" he asked only now coming to the conclusion that they had no reason to be out of the house acting like they'd done something wrong.

"So we have pizza." Sarah said coming in with three plates dropping one in front of Claire and Cameron. "That was friendly of them," she laughed taking a bite of her own slice, slightly confused as to what just happened that led John and Derek to leave the house in the manner they did. However they didn't have long to laugh about the situation as the door was opened and for the second time both males walked through, this time though the pair looked more confident as they each took a seat on the chairs opposite the couch taking a slice of pizza from the box on the table.

Looking between the trio of women sitting on the couch, John didn't know why there wasn't an odd tension like someone was going to say something out of place or do something much like he and Derek just had. In fact it seemed like Claire already fit in with their bizarre family dynamic.

Standing up from the couch without a word, which seemed to be out of place considering what she had been like earlier; Sarah walked out of the living room smiling slightly at John who looked like he had no idea what was going on. However the free seat at the end of the couch was quickly taken by the sixteen year old, unaware of the contemplating look Cameron was giving him for moving and sitting next to Claire, a slightly nudge from him sent the tiny blonde into the cyborg to her left; which she responded to by hitting John on the shoulder to the humour of Derek who was watching, and the attentive eyes of Cameron who didn't understand why they were doing it.

"It wasn't the same without you," Claire whispered to John, tones too quiet for the older male sitting there to hear but the Terminator less than five feet away was able to listen in to what was being said. "The day after you disappeared everyone thought that you were sick, and no one paid it any attention because of who you were. But then another day passed, and another. In the end I went to your house to see if you were ok, but they said that they'd never heard of you." She continued taking care to make sure she didn't say his parents seeing as how he was apparently living with his mum and uncle. "I went into the house and there wasn't a single picture of you there, no room for you to sleep in, it was like you had never existed in Odessa." Looking down at her, John could see the sadness coming through her eyes from him just up and leaving without a word to anyone; his foster parents having acted like he had never been there wouldn't have helped matters. But that was how it had to be. Standing up he gently touched her wrist and walked out the door, Claire trailing him outside.

"They acted like I never existed because as Zach I never did." John told her, there was still the mystification in Claire's eyes at his words; she knew he existed in Odessa but here he was saying that he didn't which didn't make any sense because he remembered her. "You have to trust me Claire, and I promise I'll explain everything." He added loosely holding her shoulders as he stared into her eyes hoping to see some sort of confirmation that she believed what he was telling her.


	4. Chapter 4

A/n: Must read this, regarding how i'm able to put the heroes timeline in here with John having known Claire. A/n: Right timeline time. For me to be able to make the story fit in with heroes and have John to have known Claire certain things had to have happened. For the basis of this story, John Connor was born in 1991 to make in 16 in 2007, he still spent time in foster homes and going from place to place with Sarah to be trained. After Cyberdyne which happened in 2003 he was placed in Odessa in call it the start of 2007 at the as Zach while Sarah left trying to make sure no one would ever find them. When she realized that the cops were closing in on them, she went back and they fled in the middle of the night. Yes they lived with Charley but it wasn't that long, so there never was a marriage proposal, and even though Cameron turned up they had no need to jump to the future.

Watching Claire walk away from the house, John knew that it would have been better if he had gone with her; to make sure she was going to be safe, but the downside to that was if she'd try to get who he really was out of him. Turning on his heel, he walked back into the house and prepared to face the firing squad that no doubt awaited him for bringing someone else to their house and possibly endangering them. To his shock, it wasn't there; the only person or rather thing was Cameron sitting on the couch watching him intently.

"Your new friend told us people thought you were gay." She stated watching him for any reaction, having already known what the people of Odessa had thought of him during his stay there John wasn't bothered by the news Cameron had been told. Walking around the side of the couch he stared down at her, brown eyes watching his every move waiting for him to say something in return to her; but it looked like he was just going to stay quiet.

"What you said," John started taking a quick look at the kitchen to make sure no one was going to walk in halfway through this. "when you were trapped between the trucks." Slowly green eyes looked up at her and saw that she had no intention of stopping him from talking, looking at him in the slightly worried way she had a few days earlier when he spoke about her saying he couldn't be trusted anymore. "You told me that you loved me, is that true?" he finally managed to ask the question instead of continuing to brush around it. Everything was coming back to him when he asked, how close he had come to almost kissing her after she had treated his wound, and her shivering under his touch when he removed her bullet, which was doing nothing to stop his heart from trying to beat right out of his chest as he waited.

"No," Cameron replied softly after weighing up her response and calculating on what John's reaction would be, however him suddenly adverting his eyes from her face and looking down at the floor wasn't what she thought he would have done. "At the time when you were attempting to remove my chip, I was able to assess every interaction between us; and telling you that I loved you seemed to be the most effective way of stopping you. If I had succeeded and you let me go, there would have been nothing to have stopped my mission of Terminating you." John hadn't heard a word after she had said no, and with each passing second he was regretting ever thinking about asking her what he had. _What she said back there, everything she was a trick. You know that right? Don't feel anything, they don't have feelings. They don't know love. _His mums words came back to ring in his ears as he continued to sit there frozen, he told her that he knew that; so why did it feel like his heart had just been torn out of his chest? Slowly climbing to his feet, John headed for the stairs not looking back at her or saying anything else. "Is what else I said true?" Cameron asked watching him walk away, confused as to why her response seemed to cause such a defeated look from him. "That you love me." And there was the proverbial kick when he was down, half of him wanted to go back down and tear her pretty little head right off of her body; but John ignored her and continued walking away.

Tilting her head to the side as she watched him vanish, Cameron was still having trouble understanding why John had reacted the way he did and then wouldn't answer her question. A tired sigh behind her, turning to see who it was that was behind her seeing Sarah staring at the stairs from the kitchen entrance before the older woman's gaze found her. It wasn't anger in her eyes, but sadness; she could only assume that it was sadness for John.

"John is angry." Cameron commented pointing out something that anyone who had just seen him would have been able to tell you, it was only emphasized by the sound of his bedroom door being slammed shut with enough force for the vibrations to travel through the house. If she were human the sound might have made Cameron flinch much like it did Sarah, who looked up to the ceiling before turning and walking back into the kitchen, she knew that she should go and make sure that he was ok because he was her son; but there were some things that he'd have to deal with alone and this was one of them. Her brown eyes no flickering between the ceiling and were Sarah had just stood, before she slowly stood and started walking up the stairs, she knew something was wrong with him and with her mission being to keep him safe; Cameron wanted to know what it was.

Stopping outside what was the smallest bedroom in the house, the Terminator picked up her hand ready to just walk in his room like she had many times before without knocking. However something was different this time, her hand hovered above the door handle but never touched it; she didn't know what was stopping her from walking into the room, but she was finding it impossible to place her hand down and open the door to her charge. Walking away from the door and towards her own room, Cameron stopped giving one last look over her shoulder and then continued on her way, sitting on her bed as she had seen John do when he was bored or needed to think about something; she knew that whatever had brought the sudden change in John was related to what she'd said to him while trapped between the two trucks. Slowly her eyes she let her CPU run the memory stored from that day.

_"I'm sorry for what I did, it wasn't me. You have to understand it wasn't me." Cameron said turning her head to look at John knowing that he hadn't made an effort to remove her chip for several seconds, the trust he held in his Terminator protector coming through more than his mums yells. "That wasn't me, you can't let his happen John." A forceful tone took over as she felt him flick open the shock damper, she knew if she couldn't stop him now then there would be nothing she could do to prevent him taking her chip out. "You can't. Please, listen to me, listen to me I don't wanna go." Finally there was a hint of emotion coming through her voice for the first time since she'd tricked him all those months ago back in 1999. "Please John, please."_

_Making sure that her foot stayed on the pedal even as she heard the machine talk to her son, Sarah could only pray and hope that everything Kyle Reese died for, and everything she made John give up wasn't about to be lost here._

_"John listen to me, I don't wanna go; please John." Cameron continued seeing his beaten and cut face staring down at her not knowing what he should do next as he took in her words and rapidly panicking tone even if he didn't want to. "Please, I'm good now. Listen to me I don't wanna go." A half sob on the word good forced John to sit up slightly, his brain trying to tell him to not trust her. "I'm sorry, that wasn't me. I'm fixed now I ran a test, everything's perfect." The more emotion she put into her voice the more she could tell that she was adding more conflicting thoughts into his mind and that was what made her carry on. "You can trust me." _

_"John Connor," Sarah's unbelieving voice cut through her begging and the cyborg knew that she couldn't allow the older woman to get her son back on track for what he needed to do._

_"I love you." Cameron half shouted when she felt his hand grab hold of her hair, "I love you please," she added looking up as fake tears started to form in her eyes, having been bending down to take out her chip John once again froze his face contorting with the emotions just under the surface ready to burst at her declaration. "I love you John and you love me." Keeping eye contact here was the most important thing for her, as she forced the tears to start flowing down her dirty face, now she could only wait teary eyed and all. Watching carefully she got what she had expected, John's expression morphed making it look like he was in indescribable pain as he slowly took a breath, a flicker of something passed behind his eyes before with a grimace he reached in a pulled her chip out._

With the memory now finished, Cameron slowly opened her eyes as she gazed at nothing in front of her, if it had been another Terminator or before John had reprogrammed her in 2023 she would have thought it was an extremely clever method of trying to stay functioning. However right now she was more interested in finding out why that had bothered John so much, her only answer was what had flashed through his eyes just seconds before he tore her chip out. The look of immense pain that was on his face kept coming back to her, and since the car explosion her ever growing emotional state told her that it wasn't because of his injuries; after all she had just watched him climb through a windshield, but she still didn't know what had caused it then, usually with these problems she'd go to John but it didn't seem like he'd be in the mood to tell her.

- - -

Sitting on the computer in his dad's office as the sun started to pour through the window, Claire quickly looked through the glass doors to make sure no one had gotten up yet; having moved once again to make sure she was safe, Claire hadn't told them that she had ran into Zach or rather John when she got back home. Loading up the internet window, the only thing she was grateful for with her dad still working for the company was the fact that unlike traditional computers; the ones they gave him allowed you to find out anything on anyone, something that was important in his line of work. Smiling as she thought back to how she and John hacked into her dads computer to find out if he knew anything about her ability to heal, she could imagine the look of shock and pride on John's face when she told him she did the same to find out about him.

Typing in John Connor and hitting the enter button, Claire was shocked about the amount of pages that had come up with results on his name. Some she didn't even have to look at to know they wouldn't help her when the small description said the John or even Connor they were talking about had long died. After scrolling down the page, the tiny blonde knew that she'd have to click on one sooner or later otherwise the who effort would have been a waste; finding one that she thought at the very least might have something she cautiously clicked on the link it being marked three weeks ago. Her azure eyes widening as she read the title of the page and hoped that she had been wrong.

**FBI agents admit that they are re-starting the search for John and Sarah Connor after a two year break.**

_Today several sources have said that the FBI have once again decided to re-start their search for both John and Sarah Connor despite having given up back in 2005 with all leads they had having dried up. The news has come after recent events from the past few months apparently none of which adding up to anyone, the most recent of which was actor George Lazlo having killed over twenty five FBI agents before he was killed. _

_The story on the two Connor's has dated back to 1999 when Sarah Connor was incarcerated in a mental institute after having told a number of people that a computer program called Skynet would bring about the end of the world and only her son would be able to stop it. Apparently this so called murderous super computer had already sent a robot called a Terminator to kill her in 1990 to stop her from giving birth to her son, it would have been successful too if the very same John Connor hadn't send back a resistance fighter to save her from 2029._

_With his only parent unable to look after him, John was sent into foster care at the age of nine as no immediate family could be contacted. However it seems living with someone for nine years who kept telling these incredible but impossible stories about the end of the world and how only he was able to save humanity ,was something that pushed the poor child to commit a number of criminal offences, as his own mental health was called into question. A number of professional doctors saying that he was on the edge on insanity. What should have given him a fresh start living with Todd and Janelle Voight, merely served to push him into being a delinquent._

_In his four years living with them as their adopted son, John rebelled against everything they set upon him, earning a police record which contained offences that most adults wouldn't ever think about, the least of which including, shoplifting, trespassing, disturbing the peace and vandalism. Despite his rebellion however and at only the age of twelve John was known to be incredibly smart with computers and technology, possibly taking his others warnings and thinking the best way to survive would be to create smarter machines for himself. The most impressive of his collection was a tiny device which could be connected to a ATM machine and with the correct input withdraw money directly from the bank with no need for a account there._

_If this was where his criminal life stopped then perhaps John Connor could have become a member of society to add something to the world, however in 2003 along with an unknown male companion and armed with a vast array of guns. John broke into the mental institution that Sarah Connor was being held in and broke her out, the trio causing no small amount of damage to the building as they left or to the people that worked there trying to stop them._

_Having stuck to her story after all the years she was held there, Sarah Connor led her son and the male that was with them to Miles Dyson's house, a head programmer for Cyberdyne computing. No one is sure of all the details about what followed but he was found, but we do know that Sarah Connor killed Miles with the thought that it was he who would bring about this Judgement Day which would led to the human race being destroyed and her son becoming a messiah. _

_They didn't stop with just his death though, fleeing from the numerous police officers that were on their trail and killing some of them, Sarah, John, and the other male made their way to Cyberdyne wasting no time as they blew the multi-million computer company up._

_Amazingly after this event and attracting as much attention as they had while doing it both Sarah and John vanished. The police and FBI agents that had tracked them all the way there were baffled about how they'd been able to disappear the way that they had, as well as just were they'd been able to get the amount of explosives to make sure the building was destroyed; not leaving a single scrap of information behind for it to be rebuilt._

_It was only this year, did it seem that the Connor's had shown up on the radar once again, in a remote school in Texas someone posing as a substitute teacher for the day opened fire on a student called John Reese. Amazingly this young teenager was able to escape as people sitting inside the classroom recalled how he tossed himself out of the window and was seen fleeing through the parking lot. After a lot of research we were able to convince the school to let us see the records of the students that went there, and shockingly John Reese had only been there for two days before this happened. Perhaps what shocked people even more, was when given the photo of John Reese a number of law enforcement officials all agreed that the fifteen year old had such striking similarities to the twelve year old John Connor; that they had no doubt it was the same person._

_If you have any information regarding these two individuals please contact your nearest police station, and do not attempt to engage them yourself. They are both regarded as dangerous terrorists and no one is sure what they would do, if discovered._

Ignoring the links that went onto no less than four other pages all from sources that knew either Sarah or John and wanted to give their opinion on them, in a daze Claire scrolled down towards the picture of John Reese that had been taken from the school. Having a bad gut feeling as the picture loaded up, she could do nothing but let out a shocked gasp seeing John's face stare back at her; his hair was longer then it had been when he was last in Odessa and he looked a lot less friendly as well but there was no mistaking that the John Reese they were talking about was Zach, or John Connor, and if they were right about the one that escaped the school shooting and the one that was clearly dangerous then she didn't know what to think.

Shutting down the computer as she sat in the chair, Claire had no idea what she was going to do. Obviously she'd had just seen him once again and with him knowing that they're both living around the same place it would be odd if she just started to ignore him. Listening to the sounds of people moving on the floor above her, Claire's eyes snapped back to the now blank computer screen. The site had only said that there were two Connor's John and Sarah, so who were the other two living with them, the girl had to have been at least sixteen and yet according to what she had read wasn't his sister; which meant that she had to be the older male's daughter who was living with them, even if their association wasn't known to her.

Moving from the seat that was quickly moulding to her body, Claire made her way towards the front door before grabbing a light jacket and leaving the house. She couldn't not know if it were true or not, despite what the site had said she just couldn't see him being as dangerous as it was made out, but she knew what it meant to not find out for yourself. After all that had been what had stopped her from talking to Zach the first few months he was there until she found out she could heal, as she walked towards her dads silver BMW a different thought entered her head. What if the site was right? What if John and Sarah really were these dangerous, unstable people that thought machines were going to wipe out nearly the entire human race and it was up to a sixteen year old to save them?

Deciding that the best way to deal with everything was to talk to John first, probe him until he told her about his past like he promised he would, and if he tried to avoid the talk then she could mention what she found out and see how he'd react. With her thoughts going a mile a minute and not living as far away from the closed off houses that John had taken her and Riley to the day before, it didn't take Claire all that long until she was upon that tiny dirt path she had walked down. Slowing down as she was able to see two people leaving the house she was going to, more importantly John and the older male that had come back with pizza last night; she watched as they climbed into the 4 x 4 Viper and took off in the opposite direction not once looking in her way.

"Shit." She cursed edging her car closer to the house, slow enough to be able to see if they started to come back, however it wasn't meant to be. Parking away from the front of their house but still on the gravel that was the driveway, Claire stood there not knowing whether to knock and act like she didn't see them leave; or drive away and try to come back another time. Before she was able to make a decision, the sound of small stones crunching underfoot behind her caught the diminutive girls attention; spinning around all she saw was the large fist coming at her face and then all was black.

Awakening to the sensation that her face had just been caved in by a metal rod, Claire was finding it impossible to focus her eyes as the floor swayed in front of her. Attempting to run her hand over her face, she started to panic when she couldn't move them. Had John and whoever was living in the house with him doubled around and attacked her knowing she'd found out about them?

"Help!" she cried before it clicked how stupid it sounded shouting for help when her previous thoughts were about who might have attacked her. As her ability to focus slowly started to come back to her, Claire was able to pick up the footsteps on someone coming closer to her, making no effort to be quiet and why should they, after knocking her out and taking her body wherever she was; there would have been no need to make it seem like they weren't there. Looking up she could make out the outline of a male standing above her, with either short or no hair but no more details were coming to her eyes right then. "John?" she called out still thinking that he'd done it, "I promise if you let me go I won't tell an-"she stopped when she saw it wasn't John, or the other male. Let alone anyone she had seen before.

The male standing above her had his head completely shaved and looked like he had never felt a single emotion before as his cold eyes stared at her, before he slowly walked around to the back of the chair she was tied to and tightened the knots cutting the circulation from her hands and legs.

"What do you want?" she asked now knowing she didn't know who it was, made her feel braver for a reason she didn't know. She'd dealt with psychopaths before; Brody, Sylar and even to a lesser extent West had been homage to that. She wouldn't she scared of this walking ape, "You hear me, what do you want?" Bending down, he grabbed hold of her face before speaking slowly; sounding like he didn't use his voice that often.

"You're going to phone The Connor for me," he told her, not moving from his new position. Her face squashed from the strength of his grip Claire had no idea what he was talking about, The Connor. Just what was The Connor? Did he mean John? "When he arrives here I'll kill him." walking away from her the male stood beside a small table at the far wall before coming back with a mobile phone and looking down at her. "The number, for The Connor." He stated waiting as patiently for a maniac could, despite what she'd read about him, and unsure if it were true; a part of Claire wanted to do nothing but stop him from getting in touch with John.

"I don't know John's number, and if I did; I still wouldn't tell you." She spat back at him, watching as his face changed slightly when she said John's name. Her response though was the wrong thing to say, a six inch bowie knife was pulled from the back of his jeans and held to Claire's face. Being pulled down, hard enough so she could feel the cold metal but not breaking the skin.

"You will phone, John Connor for me." He repeated edging closer to Claire so he was right in her face. "And once I've killed him, I'm going to gut you like a fish." The blonde's eyes widened in horror as she listened to the man's voice turn into an exact copy of her own, as an evil smirk started to form on his face before taking a small step back.


	5. Chapter 5

"Why?" the tiny blonde asked, fear now running through her body. The fact that this psycho had just told her he wanted to kill John and after that was going to gut her like a fish made her feel sick. She knew that she could heal nearly anything that happened to her; this was only proven further when Brody tried to rape her and she ended up with a piece a wood lodged in the back of her head. But John, she would bet everything she had that he couldn't heal; he was just a normal sixteen year old. Stopping her train of thought, Claire realised that John wasn't normal if that report on him was true; did that mean whoever this man was, was some type of FBI agent that decided to take to the extreme of getting him. "Why do you want to kill John?" she asked staring at him as tears starting to form in her eyes at the thought of her friend being killed, instead of a answer the man just pulled the knife away from her face and placed it on the table he had brought the phone from; before turning around to glare at her.

- - -

Watching his nephew put together the assault rifle with a determination that he hadn't seen since finding him, brought a small and yet bitter smile to Derek's face. He was finally accepting who he had to be like he should have years ago, but at the same time that knowledge came with the fact that John knew he was giving up everything. When fate had tossed him into the role of a saviour, it also stole everything from John; any hopes of a normal life snatched from his grasp in this time when Kyle Reese turned up to protect Sarah Connor, and no matter what he said about his long dead father, or the five year old he was right now; the look of bitterness and resentment was easily seen when they talked about him.

Positioning the rifle against his shoulder, to absorb any recoil from the gun as well as allowing him to aim it easier; out of the corner of his eye John watched as Derek put together his own gun. A bolt action savage striker pistol, a bizarre name since it was pretty much a rifle that could have two tiny expandable legs fold out so you could shoot while laying on the floor. The two of them had people watching in confusion as they obliviously didn't need any help setting up from the aids that were walking around the stands to check up on people. With almost a smirk on his face as he waited for Derek to take up his position in the stand next to him, John took a quick look around the people that were practising around them, most of them looked like they were slightly older than him; probably coming over from the academy.

"You sure you're not rusty?" Derek asked looking at his nephew, he wasn't that worried about the answer, if John was rusty then it was a good thing they were here when it was found out instead of a Terminator trying to kill him. Not giving a verbal answer, he pulled the protector glasses on followed by the headphones to block out the sounds of gunfire, staring down his gun for a second, John pulled the trigger and had to stop the smile from forming at seeing the bullet fly through the bulls- eye.

"No, are you?" he replied in a slightly mocking tone directed at Derek, narrowing his eyes at John before making sure all of his equipment was on correctly; he followed his lead and pulled the trigger, having no need to smirk seeing his shot copy John's. There was no way that he would have been able to move so far up the ranks within Connor's most trusted soldiers if he missed that, a real test of your nerve was landing deadly shots on your target when dozens of metals were coming at you, death promised in their glowing red eyes. Everyone that was watching the pair, shared shocked looks with each other, landing one bulls-eye for the first time someone turned up there was not something that was seen all the time.

Derek's shot was the proverbial match to light the fire, the pair of them wasted no time in take alternative shots at the targets before waiting for the other to try and do better than their own. Having been trained since he could walk on how to fire a gun, John while had more of the urgency to learn quicker than his uncle had after the bombs had dropped; but at the same time he wasn't being trained while machines were hunting him down, at least not actively and so he saw the importance of taking his time for each shot.

Watching in satisfaction as another of his shots tore through the now rapidly widening bulls-eye of his own target, Derek hit the small button on the wall to his left and waited as the paper dropped to the floor and a fresh now travelled down the line. Perhaps it was due to his obsessive nature, but every time he looked down the gun and at his target he saw a pair of red eyes staring right back at him, and each bullet he fired went through them; destroyed that tiny chip in their head. There had been times when he'd almost been ripped apart by Connor for constantly destroyed the chips of Terminators when he had ordered them to be brought back for re-programming. Taking the time to watch John's form through the small window separating the two, he was more than happy at seeing the look of sheer determination on his face, it would be something that would harden in years to come; giving birth to the rumour that he could melt the skin off of your bones with it.

"Like riding a bike." John whispered to himself as he waited for his third target sheet to fall to the floor, he mightn't have had to fire a gun in over a year but it was hardly something that you'd forget with living his life. Guns had been something he'd become comfortable being around with long ago, the same could be said about Terminators; they were the main constant in his life. As long as he was alive then they'd play an important part of his life. Pulling the empty clip from the rifle, John nearly leapt out of his skin when he felt someone tapping him on his shoulder; ready to slam the butt of the rifle into whoever it was, he caught Derek nodding from the window.

"Being like that'll keep you alive." The older man said staring into the green eyes that reminded him so much of Kyle, not having the hardness that Sarah possessed just yet. "We're calling it a day for now, Sarah will probably shoot someone if you're not back soon." A smile at the end of the statement was copied by John knowing how paranoid his mum was about now having him in her sights at all times. Climbing into the Viper 4 x4 and tossing the two guns into the seats behind them, Derek started to turn the key before looking back at his nephew. "Your form with a gun, it's identical to Kyle's." He commented leaving the unspoken fact that John had taught his father in the future.

"My mum taught me how to shoot." He replied not looking forward, he'd been told by her that his father taught her how to shoot before he died, something she passed onto him and by extension he'd pass it back to Kyle starting the cycle all over again. Like usual talk of Kyle Reese filled the air around whoever was talking with a tension thick enough that if felt like it could reach out and choke you, and ever since he'd taken him to watch his younger self playing with Kyle in the park on his sixteenth birthday; Derek had seen how much it bothered him. But it would have the same effect on anybody, the knowledge that you would be forced to send your father back through time to his inevitable death unless they could stop Skynet, how much could that effect someone's psyche? Add it to the future of the human race was already placed on his shoulders, sometimes the older resistance fighter was surprised that John in either time hadn't suffered numerous breakdowns and couldn't lead anyone anywhere. Let alone win a war.

Turning to take a quick look at his uncle now that the silence filling the car seemed to lose some of the tension, John's eyes were drawn to the single thing that identified him as a resistance fighter from the future. The black barcode that Skynet branded every human in concentration camps with in the future, an image that only pushed home what his destiny was. Emerald eyes dropping to his own unmarked wrists, John's heart nearly stopped as he watched a ghostly barcode form on his wrist and following further up his arm before vanishing like it had never been there before.

"In the future," he started making sure that he looked out of the windshield, "do I have one?" he asked his voice dropping slightly as if he shouldn't be asking the question. Not knowing what he was asking about, Derek allowed himself to look at his nephew, watching as his eyes dropped back down to the older man's wrist and staring at the black tattoo.

"No," he answered with a small laugh, "the only time you were ever in a concentration camp was to break the other prisoners out of it. It's what made you, you." A slight smile formed on his face as he turned back to the roads that were becoming smaller, as they neared their new house. Grabbing hold of his rifle when the car came to a stop, John jumped out of the car and slowly walked towards the shed that housed the guns, keeping one eye on Kacy's house, her watching them walking around carrying guns would bring up questions that they couldn't answer just yet. Having thought that Derek would have put his own gun back, he turned to watch his uncle carry his gun into the house; his fear that they'd be attacked by a Terminator or Cameron would go bad again was something that no one brought up and let him have his way. Following him towards the open door, John was ready to turn and walk up the small step that led to the front door when something caught his eye, a silver car parked off to the side of the road that let towards the pier and some of the shops; giving it one last cautious look, he closed the door behind him.

Having openly made his thoughts clear on the Terminator numerous times, Derek walking right past Cameron who was sitting on the couch tinkering with something he couldn't see on his way towards the kitchen. Walking through the door a few seconds later, John stopped as her brown eyes looked and found him; more than prepared to follow his uncle and walk right past her without a word, he stopped as he rounded the couch noticing something that looked very similar to his phone screen, and next to it was the keypad.

"What are you doing?" he asked glaring at her, knowing full well that she had taken apart his phone, and the events of the day before still fresh in his mind, John was unable to stop the bite of anger to come through his tone and he stood in front of Cameron waiting for his answer.

"Your phone had water damage, I was repairing it." she replied looking up at him, having been used to him saying something in return to her when she told him what she was doing; Cameron continued to watch him patiently. Having expected John to sit down next to her as she shifted along the couch to accommodate for him. Watching the movement and slightly expectant look she gave him after it, instead John walked towards one of the seat that he and Derek took the day before after returning from the truck when they dropped pizza down for, Cameron, Claire and his mum; the refusal to sit next to her was met with a tilt of the head and a slightly puzzled look. "It should be working again soon." She finished after a few seconds where she just stared at John in confusion, instead of any explanation to him sitting away from her; she was met with a blank look that she had given so often upon first finding him and revealing what she was.

Watching with not even the slightest interest as she continued to work on his dismantled phone, John knew that it mightn't have been fair to be treating her the way he was; but he hardly thought it was fair that she told him she loved him so she could get away. Call it petty but right now he wanted to be petty, he wanted to hold what was left of his pride and keep it safe within himself; that wasn't to say that he didn't see the confusion in her eyes, but fought against himself to act indifferent to it.

- - -

Having watched the clearly insane and terrifying man walk around the large room of wherever he had taken her, Claire had no idea of what she should expect from him; after his threats on both her and John he hadn't said any in the hour and a half since he copied her voice. That was something that sent a chill down her spine, just how easily he'd been able to mimic her, she knew that people could copy other voices but after hearing her speak roughly twenty words and having her voice down that well was just not right. Tears ran down her face as she tried to free her hands from the ungodly tied knot the rope had been put in, her movement didn't even near her any attention from him; as the male stood near a small window, pulling the mobile phone to his ear.

"Hi, I recently bought a phone for my son, John Connor but every time I phone it I'm getting a busy tone; I was wondering if I could check the number against the one you have to make sure ." the male spoke, his voice coming out more human like and not at all sounding like he was the devil himself. Watching with eyes wide in horror, the fact that he was phoning the telephone company, to find John's number because she didn't know it. Without a word, he hung up the phone and glared at her for a second before dialling once again. "Excuse me," the blonde on the chair was nearly sick when at the voice that sounded like a small child's. "My brother John Reese bought a phone off of you, but I can't find his number anywhere and our mum's really mad; could you give it to me?" a almost heart breaking sob was added at the end of the question to try and convince whoever was on the other end of the phone.

"You won't find him." Claire said as the tears were drying on her cheeks, unable to stop the images of what could happen to John if he was found from forming in her mind's eye. Tilting his head to the side as he took in Claire's words, the male once again placed the phone at his ear, walking over to her and placing one hand over her mouth.

"Hi," if hearing him sounding like a child made her want to throw up, him using her voice again was making Claire try and scream her lungs out. "I bought my boyfriend John Baum a phone off of you, but for some reason we never got a number to go with it." hoping against hope that the result would be the same as the first two tries, Claire's stomach dropped out when she saw the sick smile form on his face; knowing that he'd got the information he wanted at the start. "Thank you." Continuing to keep his hand over her mouth to stop her making any noise, his smile growing wider and wider. Putting the number in that he was just given he waited for an answer on the other end; knowing he'd kill whoever turned up. "John, I need you to meet me." Trying to scream out once again at her voice sounding sweet coming from him, Claire prayed John knew it weren't her. "Who tried to rape you in Odessa?" he whispered leaning towards her, with his free hand over the phone.

"What?" she asked stunned by the sudden question that it seemed John had asked on the other end of the phone, just what that had to do with him apparently meeting her she didn't know. Seeing those two dead eyes staring into her own fearful ones, she knew that this could very well be the chance she needed to let John know it wasn't her phoning him up. "Jake, it was Jake that tried to rape me." Claire answered looking away from him in case he knew she was lying, instead of John's death that night came back to her and being pushed down onto the bench before waking up on a cold slab in the morgue.

"It was Jake," he mimicked adding the same sadness that Claire did, after a few seconds of silence on the phone which she hoped was John knowing something was wrong, he spoke again. "I'm ten minutes away from the pier, 37 Tulip drive," only when the phone was put down did Claire realise one glaringly obvious point from the conversation that had just taken place, John had his memory wiped in Odessa after Brody tried to rape her, so how would be have remembered it when it shouldn't have been possible? Her line of thought stopped when the male walked over to her holding a roll of duck tape. "John Connor will be terminated, the future is ours." Placing the tape over her mouth so Claire couldn't scream, he picked the bowie knife up that had been put on the table, and drove it into her stomach before giving it a final twist and leaving it there. "It's just a matter of time."

- - -

Staring at the wall in front of him, his blood ran cold. John could only come to one conclusion, they had Claire. Cameron was sitting there having watching him during the phone conversation, she had thought her fixing his phone would have warranted a thank you but he just took it off of her without a word.

"They've got her," John whispered before his eyes found Cameron who still hadn't moved from her spot on the couch. "They've got her and it's because of me," turning suddenly he started walking towards the door, only to have his Terminator protector standing in his way. "She won't die because of me." Reaching around to open the door whether she'd move or not only ended in failure, having anticipated his movement before he made it, Cameron shoved John backwards with no little amount of force.

"If a Terminator has captured her, then he's using her as bait to kill you." She replied not knowing why he couldn't see that for himself when it was obvious to her. It was a plan that a Terminator had tried the day they went to the pier, with Cromartie kidnapping Charley's wife to have Sarah and Derek taken out of the picture; and it nearly worked with him coming close to killing John. Glaring at her, John took a step towards Cameron, who didn't move from her spot at the door; instead she was waiting for his next move and how to stop it.

"Get out of my way." He all but growled out at her, she would never admit to it but the way his eyes seemed to darken dangerously as did the rest of his face. At that minute in time he turned into the John Connor that had sent her back to protect his younger self, towering above her; and for a completely different reason then when they were in the bathroom and yet she still didn't know why, a shiver ran through the flesh covering her coltan body as John took a step towards her.

Unconsciously noticing that Cameron took a half step back as he moved forwards, it seemed to be the first time that she was forced to raise her head higher to look him in the eye. The look in her eyes as she continued to watch him was something that John hadn't seen in the cyborg before; a mixture of fear, admiration and other emotions he was sure she couldn't feel after the night before. He didn't know if he was going to hit her and throw her out of his way, or kiss her and then make her tell him she didn't love him. Both of them seemed like really good ideas at the minute, but before he could do either a voice brought him back down to Earth.

"What's going on?" Sarah asked with Derek trailing behind her, the fact that her son had the Terminator backed up against the door of the house and looked like he was ready to devour her in more ways than one was not a good sign to her. "John?" she called seeing both of them ignore her, with Cameron's eyes stayed glued to her son waiting for his next move, if she was human then Sarah would have said that the machine looked both excited and nervous at the same time. Watching him turn around to face her, she knew that it wasn't her son looking back and her or Derek right then, this was the person that stabbed the knife into a cutting board when she told him they had to kill Cameron; the same person that held both of them at gun point while he re-booted the machine and then took her hand.

"They've got Claire, in an abandoned house and we have to go and save her." John replied in a way that meant he was giving them an order, the end of his statement was punctuated with a look at the Terminator that was now looking at the back of his head before her brown eyes found Sarah. "No one else I know is going to die because of me." He added making sure that they knew even if they said they weren't going, he'd find a way to get to her. In a different battle of wills mother and son were now locking eyes with each other, trying to force the other to either back down on the idea or try and refuse it, either way it left the other two occupants of the room staring at them not knowing how this would end.

"Fine, we'll go and save her." Sarah relented after looking off to the side for a split second in submission before staring at John again, "But if it becomes between saving you and saving her, we will let her die." It was her turn now to make sure he knew it wasn't up for debate, nodding slightly he turned to look at Cameron who had stared at Sarah with what would have been described as disbelief before her gaze found John once again. Watching them stare at each other in the manner they were, Derek could only hope he was imagining the sexual tension between saviour of the world and the machine.

This time Cameron didn't hold John's gaze that long before moving to the side as he left the house, the Terminator following him immediately with Sarah and Derek bringing up the rear. With silence once again between them as they walked towards the shed to gather weapons for their mission to try and save Claire, it left Cameron with precious seconds to try and figure out why she had shivered twice and warmed up once; when having something to do with John. The first time it had happened, they had both been in the bathroom and by extension standing in their underwear, with the time of day it was; it was logical to put it down to John's body being colder than normal and the contact of his cold skin made her shiver. That however didn't hold up when you put it to the fact that she only shivered when he ran his hand down her arm.

"What do you want?" John asked turning slightly to look at her, while holding onto the assault rifle in one hand as he tucked the .45 into the back of his jeans. In perhaps the first time she'd been asked what weapon she wanted since most of the resistance in the future didn't trust her and she was often left with the last gun; unless John's future self gave her one from his own collection, Cameron walked forwards and picked up one of the three shotguns that were sitting on a damaged work bench that had been left there. Turning to him to see if this was an acceptable choice, often various forms and sizes of arc wielders were the most often used gun in the future war, unless someone became a specialist in one gun like Kyle Reese had, using a more traditional rifle if with modified rounds.

With a slight nod, John walked back out of the shed, holding the other two shotguns in his hands giving one to both his mum and Derek knowing how obsessively his paranoid his uncle was about not being able to have the gun when on a mission; as he had already shown. Climbing into the backseat of the 4 x 4, he waited for the other three to follow him, clearly in no mood to wait for anything to happen.

"What happens if we get there, and she's already dead?" Derek asked taking a look in the rear-view mirror as they back out of the driveway making sure that they didn't draw any attention by speeding out and onto the main roads.

"Then we find it, and tear it apart." John replied staring forwards, "Tulip Drive, ten minutes away from the pier." He added unable to sit back too much due to the gun in the back of his jeans. Smirking at the answer he wanted, Derek flashed Sarah a look, who refused to meet his gaze. She knew what this meant whether she liked it or not, whether she'd been preparing for it or not, John was becoming a leader that would one day win the war if they couldn't prevent it.

Watching the trees fly past them, as they quickly turned into shops that stood on small roads and streets allowing a certain amount of anonymity for whoever lived around the area. With the speed his uncle was driving, possibly wanting to see how John's first real orders would pan out, the small shops soon turned into the pier and the larger gathering of people on the roads that led either to or away from it. Thumbing the safety off of his gun as his gripped tightened on it, John flashed Cameron a look who was staring at his hand and how close his finger was to the trigger; if there was a worry that he'd accidently shoot before they found the Terminator she didn't voice it.

Seeing the sign that led them to Tulip Drive, Derek slowed the car down waiting for John to tell him what house they needed to go to, but the only sound that filled the car was the door opening before being slammed shut again.

"John!" Sarah half shouted opening her own door as Cameron did the same, both women chasing him as he took off down the road holding onto his rifle; this wouldn't end well if someone saw them. Cursing silently as he was forced to stay in the car and follow them, Derek placed one hand on the shotgun he'd put on the dashboard waiting for his nephew to come to a stop. "What do you think you're doing?" Sarah asked finally grabbing hold of her son as he started to turn up a path, "Are you trying to get killed?"

"I have to do this alone," John replied seeing the arguments forming in both his mum's and Cameron's minds as soon as the words left his mouth. With more caution then either of them had used Derek parked the 4 x 4 outside the house and held the shotgun in front of him, and out of view of the public that could be walking past. "Don't come in, unless you hear gunshots." Breaking free of Sarah's grip he started moving towards the front door, this time moving at a slower pace, assault rifle held against his shoulder ready to tear apart anything he saw. The fact that the door was unlocked for him to just walk in, didn't fill Derek, Sarah or Cameron with hope as they watched him enter the house; within seconds both women started walking towards the door to follow them.

"He needs to do this alone," the resistance fighter said earning a confused look from Cameron and a glare from Sarah, "If we hear a gun, we'll go in like he said." Even if his words were what John had said seconds before, his tone told them that he didn't like waiting anymore than they did, but he was willing to give John his chance.

Walking through the quiet house, John knew that this would probably look like a great scene for a horror film with the crazed knife wielding killer would appear in a doorway and then a chase would occur, but his life was scarier than a horror film and instead of a human killer holding a knife he could very well come face to face with a Terminator that could crush his head. Pressing his body against the wall as he leant around the corner rifle first to shoot at anything which moved, John cocked his head to the side seeing someone slumped over in a chair.

"Claire," he whispered to himself before slowly and cautiously moving towards the blonde, the closer he got the more he knew something was wrong. Call it intuition; he'd call it the sick smell of blood that was filling the air, edging closer to her; his blood boiled seeing the duck tape around her mouth and the knife embedded in her stomach. "Claire, I'm sorry." He whispered again pulling the tape off of her and tilting her head up slightly, her normally azure eyes were already glazing over and it made him want to cry at the fact someone else had died for knowing him.

Hairs standing up on his neck, John spun around to come face to face with the baldy Terminator standing right behind him, as it took the sixteen years olds face in a look of malice formed. With the fact that the Terminator hadn't attacked him yet, John quickly raised his rifle ready to pump it full of metal; however his movements seemed to be the signal that it needed. With speed and strength that John knew it had, the Termination grabbed hold of the assault rifle with him hand and tossed it to the side, using the other to grip his shirt and throwing him high through the air; watching as the teenager landed with a solid thud on the wooden floor.

Watching the T-888 coming at him, John tried to roll out of the way and back to his feet, but even his reactions which were born from years of being trained in jungles weren't quick enough. Half way through his roll when a solid foot slammed into his side sending him sprawling away and clutching at the floor, he might have used a gun as a quick and easy way to eliminate John Connor if this was 2027; but that was when he was legendary and possibly the best fighter Skynet knew, not to mention he had his body guard with him at all times. However this wasn't 2027 and John Connor was a sixteen year old with his only weapon having been torn away from him, and was far from a great fighter; so he wanted to enjoy the feeling of killing the great John Connor long before his time.

Spitting up blood, John was instantly regretting coming in alone to find Claire; re-damaged ribs and all, this had to have been one of the worst ideas he'd had. But it wasn't over just yet, the T-888 seemed almost happy to play with him which was bizarre from the other Terminator's that would have already snapped his neck; no doubt firing off a little one-liner beforehand. Managing to grab the .45 from the back of his jeans, John took aim and fired off five bullets into the machines legs hoping it would serve two purposes, slowing it down and being a signal to the other outside the house. The response wasn't one John liked. A vicious kick sent the gun flying out of his grasp, which if it had been a few inches lower would have destroyed the bones in his hand, being dragged up by the back of his shirt before a hand wrapped around his throat; John stared into those two eyes which seemed to glow red.

"The future is ours, and it starts now." The T-888 said adding more pressure to John's throat ready to snap it like a twig. Before he had the chance though, the male Terminator was tackled to the floor before what looked like a one hundred pound girl sat on him while she pummelled his face with her tiny fists of fury. Coughing as he tried to get some feeling back into his throat, John turned to watch as Cameron was thrown off of the bigger Terminator, but instead of staying on the floor seemed to spring up before going back on the offensive before it could attack John again.

While watching a robot death match might have had its perks every now and then, the sound of two guns going off made him over his ears. Standing feet away and each holding a shotgun both Derek and Sarah looked very much like angels of death as they unloaded bullets into the Terminator that was now being attacked on three fronts. Scrambling to his feet and towards where his own gun was, it surprised John that Derek seemed to be making sure he didn't hit Cameron with any of his bullets, something that he wouldn't care about usually; and his mum only did when he asked. Finding his weapon not too far from where he first landed, John spun around at hearing the sound of wood being destroyed, and found that not for the first time and possibly not for the last Cameron's tiny frame had worked against her, as she was being dragged up through the broken table and tossed to the side like a rag doll.

A rain of bullets from three directions seemed to stop the Terminator from going anywhere. The destructive power of the close range shotgun blasts to the back would have made it topple forwards and towards John, but the constant stream on smaller bullets from his assault rifle aims at its face tore the skin away revealing the coltan underneath. Raising his gun higher, John sent a stream of bullets through one of the T-888's eyes and watched as the red glow died down as it collapsed to the floor.

"Are you ok?" Sarah asked rushing over to her son as soon as the Terminator fell, nodding his answer John was shocked to be pulled into a hug by his mum who seemed like she wasn't letting go. Looking over her shoulder he watched as Cameron apparently taking offence to being thrown around like that, or possibly angered by John's near death encounter started to stomp on the T-888's head.

"John, she's dead." Derek said standing above Claire's body as he looked at his nephew, remorse in his eyes at him losing a friend.

"Untie her hands and feet." He ordered Cameron as he edged closer to the tiny blonde cheerleader, his uncle backing away as John stood in front of the girl and bent down as his protector followed his orders not asking why she should if the girl were already dead. Tilting her head up once again to look into her glazed over eyes, he held her head up cradled in his palm, as with his other hand he grabbed hold of the knife handle. Seeing what he was doing, Derek's eyes flashed to Sarah who was making her way over to the pair, not knowing why her son had grabbed the knife.

With a nearly sickening twist, John turned it back to the direction the knife would have been in when it first entered her body, close to throwing up as he could feel the muscles tear with the movement of the knife. Pulling it out of Claire's stomach in one movement, he allowed the knife to drop the floor as he watched the blood now more feely pour from her stomach, he only hoped he was right with what he could remember from her. Aware of the looks he was getting as he waited patiently, the blood that had been pouring happily onto John's hand that was resting below the chair started to slow down before stopping. A wary smile formed on his face as he felt some warmth through his fingers as they now grazed her cheek; seconds later the glazed over look vanished from her eyes before they returned to their natural azure blue. The first thing they saw were two emerald green eyes staring into her own, relief in them.

"John?" Claire gasped out not knowing what had just happened; she remembered having a knife rammed into her gut but that was it, looking past him at the shocked faces from the people that she saw at his house; and then to the gleaming metal that was shining through her would be killers nearly crush skull. Claire did the one thing; she had come so close to after she told him Brody tried to rape her, throwing her arms around him as she clung on crying.


	6. Chapter 6

If the car ride to find Claire had been filled with a nervous tension of just what would be found when they got there, then the journey home seemed like someone was pointing a gun at them all. Derek and Sarah were once again sitting up front in the car, two shotguns resting on the dashboard as the resistance fighter tried to find any back roads that would lead them home, worried that someone could have heard all the gunfire that had gone off in the abandoned house and saw them running out. John who had both Claire and Cameron sitting either side of him, hadn't said much since the diminutive blonde had latched onto him in the building and started to cry into his shoulder, and while she had long since calmed down enough Claire had placed a death grip on his hand to ensure he was still there.

Sitting nearly rigid next to the window, Cameron was watching both John and Claire while trying to be discreet about it; however it was still something she hadn't quite mastered and had her head half turned in their direction while she would occasionally flash her eyes forwards as if she wasn't looking. Her brown eyes were glued to the hole in Claire's shirt; all she could make out was small parts of dried blood on her when the sun shone through the window, and she was filled with curiosity as to how she was alive again after Derek had declared her dead. The best way Cameron though to check on just how well she had healed, was pretty much the way she'd do it if it were John, use her superior strength to hold her down and check. The only problem with that was John was in the way.

"That was definitely interesting." Derek muttered one he pulled the car to a stop outside the house, for a minute no one made any attempt to get out of the car, as they all seemed to think someone was going to talk first. "This is awkward." He added before climbing out the car, shotgun in hand as Sarah and Cameron copied his actions, the trio that were meant to make sure John was safe at all times and became who he had to be, headed towards the house, leaving the two teens that had almost been killed in the car.

"Are you ok?" John asked turning to look at Claire who still hadn't moved or let go of his hand, if anything her grip had only tightened as she continued to stare ahead, a dead look in her eyes, there had been more emotion in them when she told him what had happened back in Odessa that night with Brody. There were times when he wasn't openly running away, were thoughts of killing the quarter back ran through his head, but she had gotten her own back. "Dumb question," he whispered after getting no reply from her. He couldn't remember if he had just shut down when he saw his first Terminator, or the first time something had tried to kill him. No. He decided he hadn't, he didn't have that luxury. "Come on, we have to get inside." John told her while shifting towards the door Cameron had left open. "Claire!" he yelled slightly when she still hadn't moved from her spot in the car.

"Just how...she couldn't of...she was dead." Derek managed to get out once he, Sarah and Cameron where in the house vaguely aware that John hadn't followed them right away. "No one can take a knife that big to the stomach and be fine after it. She could be a met..." any worries that Claire was a machine that wanted to kill John, had to be put on hold when he came through the front door; the girl in question in his arms, her own wrapped around his chest. It was enough to earn John, an amused look from his uncle, a slight raise of the eyebrow from his mum and Cameron to tilt her head to the side as they watched him place Claire on the couch. "We need to talk." Derek told his nephew grabbing hold of his shoulder and leading him towards the kitchen, Sarah following them. With them leaving the living room, it gave Cameron the time to slowly walk around the couch and stand above and in front of Claire; staring down at her intently. Emotionlessly.

"What?" John asked, standing near the backdoor with Derek and his mum looking at him waiting for an answer. The problem was he didn't know the question and by the looks of things he wasn't going to know unless one of them told him what it was.

"John, she was dead." Sarah started looking at her son, she hadn't thought of it until Derek had once again repeated that statement when they arrived back home, in the abandoned building emotions had been running to high for anything to make sense. "You pulled the knife out and now she's alive again, how is that possible?" she asked, after talking to Claire she knew that the two of them had been close in Odessa before she came back and took him away, but she wasn't sure that she wasn't a Terminator in disguise. Cameron had tricked John to get close to him, maybe Claire had done the same thing but he'd been too guarded and it took longer.

"I don't know how she does it," he replied taking a quick look through the kitchen. "All I know is that she can heal anything that happens to her body. She's been in car crashes, fires; had pieces of wood lodged in the back of her head; impaled herself on a steel rod, threw herself off of scaffolding and just gets back up." The end of his reply became just a ramble of everything John had watched or heard Claire doing to prove that she was indestructible, the fact that he was there for most of it sent his minds reeling with the images of what she had done. And from the looks of his mum's and Derek's face they had no more of an idea about how she was able to do it. None of them seemed aware that Cameron and Claire had walked into the kitchen, the tiny blonde had become uncomfortable under the brunettes gaze, and she had been followed then trying to find John. "I know it doesn't make any sense, ok I get it. But we're not in the place to say that makes sense, my dad came from the future and right now he's only five years old." The low rumbling of thunder in the distance was nearly symbolic of the way the conversation looked ready to go.

"What?" the distinctively feminine voice that carried too much emotion to be Cameron caused the trio to spin around almost as if they heard someone loading a gun behind them. Three pairs of green eyes all at some state of shock stared into a pair of azure that held nothing but confusion to the statement that she had just heard. "Did you just say your dad came from the future?" Claire asked looking at John just like nearly the whole school in Odessa did. No reply came from John or anyone else as they continue to stare at her, silently Cameron took a step closer to her before looking up at her charge; asking something he couldn't figure out.

"Tell her," he finally said keeping his gaze on his cyborg protector. "Tell her who I am, what I have to be." John repeated to make sure Cameron, Derek and his mum knew what he wanted Claire to hear. Walking past both females and into the actual kitchen, not the small passageway going towards the backdoor, John grabbed hold of a chair and dropped down onto it, getting ready for perhaps the first time since his mum told him; to hear about what he was destined to be. Destiny was a joke he thought; it seemed more like some kind of punishment. It only took seconds for him to be joined by the four of them, Sarah and Derek standing inside the small archway that lead to the living room while Cameron and Claire took seats at the table.

"John Connor was born February 28th 1991 to Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese," Cameron started in a quiet tone like she was telling them a bedtime story and not coming up with the details Skynet and John himself put in her chip about the hell that was his life. "The early years of his life were spent moving from place to place with his mother fleeing from Skynet as they tried to stay off the grid and go unnoticed. Living in Mexico, Brazil and Cuba for months at a time, both John and Sarah learnt different ways of fighting hand to hand as well as guillera warfare, marksmanship, how to put together guns." Derek nodded along silently listening to the metal talk about his nephew, after the bombs fell John was quick to make sure everyone knew that he did about fighting. If you weren't learning as quick as the resistance leader wanted, then you got private instructions which meant you'd go to bed black and blue until you knew how to duck.

"In 1997 at t the age of six, Sarah took John to Iran where she watched as America's enemies trained to one day attack the country they hated. While they she learnt what she could about how they trained their soldier's to ensure nothing could be given out if they were caught." Slowly, a small but strong hand rest of the back of John's neck; pushing down weakly knowing full well that he would get the point without her having to put too much pressure on him. Cameron brushed the shorter hair away from the base of his skull, before a delicate finger traced the small scar and lump that was there. "A quarter inch inhibitor chip that he would later have someone cut out of his head to show the resistance was placed in his cerebral cortex. It prevents him from being affected by any mind altering drugs his enemies would use to get information out of him, as well as allowing John to keep his faculties."

Blue eyes hit green after that statement; Claire was trying to take as much in as she could from what she was being told no matter how insane it sounded. But one thing stuck out in her head already from what she was told, John wasn't affected by mind alerting drugs or outside influences and he had remembered about her telling him Brody tried to rape her. Had he lied when he had told her in Odessa they hadn't spoke before?

"In 2023 Skynet sent a T-1000 back to 2003 to try and neutralise John Connor when he was a teenager and prevent him from becoming a threat to its existence." Cameron started once again bringing attention back to her and away from the male the history lesson was about. "In retaliation and an effort to keep his younger self safe, John responded by sending a T-800 back to make sure the T-1000 didn't find him, having a collection of the older models in his camp. Being separated from Sarah Connor due to her repeated outburst that, machines would take over, humans were all in danger and that they needed to help her son take back the future; she was incarcerated in a mental institution. John Connor was placed in foster care for the first time."

Turning his head to look at his mum, John knew what part of the story was coming next, the first of only three times he'd either saved her or tried to, after all she kept telling him that if he died the world was doomed.

"The T-1000 found a picture of John when he was twelve years old and also his address so went looking for him at home. However the T-800 was one step ahead of him, John remembered where he first met the machine and told him that he would be found at the arcade and it went there. After initial contact with both Terminator's and fleeing with the T-800, John decided that they would go and retrieve Sarah Connor, even if the T-1000 would already be going after her to set a trap for him. They were successful." Cameron continued her story, unaware that her hand had stayed glued to John's neck as she spoke, staring into Claire's eyes to ensure she understood what she was being told. "With the knowledge that he had been programmed to pass on, they discovered who would start to create Skynet and made for his house. Despite his orders to Terminate Miles Dyson, John was able to convince the T-800 to allow the human to help them destroy Cyberdyne and stop Skynet and Judgement day. The battle that followed, took killed Miles, the T-800 and T-1000 as well as the building which they hoped for, even with this they failed."

Rolling his eyes at the fact the metal couldn't just get to the point already; Derek walked over to the fridge and pulled two bottles of beer out before placing one in front of his nephew. The sound of someone clearing their throat, forced him to take it away with an apologetic look and handing it over to Sarah, as he got ready to listen to the rest of the story. It was almost like being back in the future, were after a successful mission they'd all tell each other about the things the great John Connor had done before Judgement day.

"After this set back, Skynet waited for four years until 2027 and sent back a number of its newer models the T-888 to 2007 with the mission to kill John Connor and ensure it was built in this time. However like before, John knew what Skynet had done; this time he sent both me and Derek Reese back in time to save him." scratching his head as the story seemed to be over, part of John wanted Cameron to keep going and see if she'd actually come up with something that he didn't know about the future, but her silence only proved the point she wouldn't tell him anything that could change the timeline; unlike constantly sending people and things back did.

With silence now filling the kitchen, the sound of rain heavily pounding against the roof and windows of the house could be heard. But it was something that none of them seemed bothered by as they waited to see what Claire's reaction would be, however the tiny blond was sitting there nearly comatose. That was until the faint laughter could be heard coming from her slightly parted lips confusing them all.

"You expect me to believe this?" she asked looking at John like he was crazy, yes she had told him that she could heal; but in her defence she had proof. This just seemed like a bizarre cover story for the news that she had found out about him, but so far hadn't mentioned. "John there's no way tha." Eyes widening as Cameron's normal brown eyes started to glow an unearthly blue, Claire nearly jumped out of her seat.

"There's your proof," he replied looking at her before leaving his seat and walking around to kneel next to Claire. "The man that kidnapped you, he changed his voice to mimic yours after what twenty minutes of having you there. You saw the metal of his skull Claire." John wasn't sure why he was trying so hard for her to understand that they were telling the truth, in the end it was easier if she had nothing to do with him. "Look at me," he whispered trapping her face between his hands and making her stare into his eyes, "You have to trust me." He told her, after what seemed to be an eternity of waiting she slowly nodded as best she could, with him still holding her face. Slowly his eyes travelled down to the large tear in her top where the knife had been, "You can't go home tonight." John added before turning to look at his mum and Derek who were still silent watching him.

"They'll need to know where I'm staying," she agreed now feeling his hands leave her face as he kept his eyes on both adults in the doorway.

"We'll go," Sarah spoke for the first time since asking John how Claire could heal and why she was still alive. "We'll just need you to give us the address," she added indicating to her and Derek who was not placing his empty bottle down next to the unopened one he gave Sarah before staring at her, in the slightly annoyed way he had when being told he'd do something. "You can have a shower, and a change of clothes."

Deciding that he was no longer needed in the kitchen, John walked past his mum and uncle as Claire gave them directions on how to get to her house; wondering just how much if any at all he would have had them tell her if she hadn't been caught by the T-888. Sure he said that he'd tell her the truth, but it was said in the same way that children tell their parents that they'll tidy their room up. Watching his only two family members walk past him and out into the rain, once again carrying guns, John looked over his shoulder to see both Claire and Cameron standing there staring at him.

"I'll show you were the shower is," John told her before starting to walk up the stairs, aware of the third set of footsteps following them. Looking over his shoulder at his Terminator bodyguard who for reasons she knew alone was following them, John shook his head, her need to decide to cling to him again like she had briefly before the explosion was just odd. "And here's the bathroom," pushing the door open to reveal the shower meant that there was no need to John to tell Claire it was the bathroom but did so anyway, "I'll go get you some clothes." He added before walking back down the hallway as the blonde headed towards the shower, leaving Cameron standing there before she turned to follow John. Curious she watched as he pulled a jumper out of his wardrobe and a pair of shorts, followed by a hoody that was thrown onto the bed before he started to walk back towards the bathroom in one overly large circle.

Knowing that he'd have to go past the room to head downstairs again, Cameron walked towards his bed that didn't look big enough to fit him and set down on the edge of it before picking the hoody up. She had often heard people saying that clothes smelt like the person who wore them, and after allowing her eyes to flick towards the door to make sure she was alone; she sniffed the front of it curiously almost like a puppy would sniff someone they hadn't seen before. Almost a ghost of a smile formed on her face as she stared in wonder, it was faint but it did carry John's smell, which confused her as she hadn't seen him wear it yet; the only answer she could come up with was that it was due to his other clothes he had worn before contained traces of his scent and in the wardrobe they had been transferred.

"What are you doing?" John asked standing in the doorway and watching in shock as Cameron sniffed his top, he might have laughed at the sight of it; if he weren't so freaked out by it. Edging into the room and over to the cyborg slightly worried that she was going to sniff him next, grabbing hold of his hoody and pulling it away from her and over his head as quickly as possible.

"It smells like you." Cameron replied watching as John made sure his top underneath hadn't bunched together before giving it a small tug down. Staring at her like he had when she _was just making conversation_ he slowly turned for the door and made his way out of the room, not before she was able to get one final comment out. "I like that it smells like you." Tilting her head to the side, Cameron knew that John had heard her even if he hadn't replied due to the small stumble that nearly went unnoticed, she wasn't sure though as to why he had put a hoody on. The house was warm for this time of year, and if he were cold they could always turning the heating up.

Turning her head to the nightstand and the Lego robot that stood there, Cameron plucked it up before turning it around in her hand examining it. The design was basic and crude with barely any room for upgrades to be made, as well as the noticeable lack of a chip; just how was this meant to protect John? Having never seen him express any interest in coloured building blocks, the only other person who could have made this was Riley, frowning as she continued to stare at it she wondered if it were meant to be an attempt of copying her. If so, it was a pathetic attempt; she was not coloured yellow and this tiny robot did not have any of her features; she was not perfectly straight and from what she had discovered from his attraction to her, John did not harbour feelings for this tiny toy even if it did share his room. One more thing she could point out about the design if it were meant to be her, was the lack of her naughty lady fun parts as she had heard them being described once on the television.

Hearing the backdoor opening and closing again, Cameron wasted no time in crushing the Lego robot and dropping the pieces into the bin that had been placed in John's room. Stepping into the hallway, the sounds of running water coming from the bathroom told her that Claire was still in the shower; no doubt removing any dried blood and sweat from her body; Cameron had realised that before Judgement day humans liked to be clean, something they didn't have the luxury of in war. As she walked down the stairs she didn't know why John had given the blonde some of his clothes for her to wear, they were not the same height or body shape which meant they would appear far too large on the female. Deciding that either John or Claire could answer this later she started to walk towards the backdoor.

Opening it slowly Cameron stepped outside the safety of the house and into the rain that had started coming down heavily not long after they returned. Standing less than a foot away from her was her target, John. The black hoody he had put one minutes before was keeping him from being soaked from the weather, but not as much as him being inside would.

"If you continue to stay outside, there is a high probability of you catching influenza." she spoke quietly watching as he made no move to seem like he had heard her words. Apart from the interaction they had since arrive back home, she had come to register this as a normal response from John, but wouldn't leave until he went inside the house.

"When my mum first got taken away," he started talking as quietly as Cameron had but her being a Terminator allowed her to pick up his words like they were spoken at a higher volume. "And they put me in foster care; i used to play a game where the world was perfect. You know? My mum was with me, and my dad wasn't always a hero or always dead. We were a family." Neither the sadness nor longing in his tone was lost on his cyborg companion.

"In a perfect world there are no guns, there is no war. In a perfect word there is only peace...But in a perfect world there is no you." Cameron replied taking a small step towards John who still hadn't moved from his spot. Swallowing hard at her words, he slowly turned to face his bodyguard, and for the first time since he asked that question saw her. Standing in the rain, hair matted to her face as her eyes seemed to be searching his with the faint hope that she had said the right thing this time. With a sense of hesitancy, John reached out, and wiped a portion of her way away from Cameron's before giving her a small smile. In contrast to the coldness of the rain, John's hand was a source of warmth which caused her to tilt her head slightly pushing more of her face into his palm as he started to stroke her cheek.

Cameron's chocolate brown eyes stared into John's watching as layers of hardness seemed to dissolve like the water pouring over her, and for the first time she was able to see what the girls at the schools they had gone to were talking about when they mentioned John. Reaching forwards, she pulled the hood down revealing all of John's face, before slowly allowing fingers to lightly trace his face starting at the top of his head; where his cuts had only just finished healing. Once her hand slipped off of John's jaw, Cameron let it drop down to the front of his top and pulled him closer to her; tilting her head ever so slightly as she felt his finger run across the back of her neck before staying her in hair; pulling her towards him.


	7. Chapter 7

When the distance between the two of them was finally closed, the kiss wasn't what John had expected it to be. Coming off more hesitant than anything else almost as if this were his first kiss, granted stolen kisses in the dark wherever he was living at the time didn't mean much. Feeling her soft lips against his, John wrapped his arm that was still hanging loosely around Cameron's waist pulling her that much closer to him, running his tongue over her mouth trying to deepen the kiss between them; John nearly froze with her reaction. For someone that he doubted had gone around kissing anyone in the future, he was shocked when he felt Cameron's tongue slip into his mouth like it was a snake trying to choke him, her hands tightening their grip on his hoody as she continued to press her body against his.

With the situation they were in, standing in the rain kissing someone as attractive as Cameron seemed to be normal at the time for someone who lived his life, two teens kissing in the rain. It was with that thought; John tried to gain some type of control over the kiss, forcing Cameron's tongue out of his mouth and back into hers before his own followed it. Unfortunately there was only one of them that would be able to survive staying like that for too long, pulling away needing to take a breath, John was more than aware of his heart beating like he'd been running a marathon; his hazy green eyes trailing Cameron's body in the back of his mind aware that she seemed to be out of breath as well.

"John?" she whispered looking up at him shyly for a second, wondering that now he had pulled away his attitude would change back to the way it was before she came out to find him. "Is this right?" she asked, her question coming out timidly as she flattened her hands out on him, the past few days she's been dealt his anger and uncaring attitude, she didn't know why but she did know that she didn't like it. There was no verbal answer for the Terminator's question, as John covered her mouth with his own; slowly moving them backwards towards the house, and under the small roof that travelled across the back step protecting them from the rain. His body run by hormones, John pressed Cameron's lithe body against the side of their house, before pressing his own against hers leaving no room between them, determined as he was to imprint her smell, touch and taste into his mind. The hand that had been wrapped around her waist was no making its way towards the bottom of Cameron's top before trailing under it; his curious fingers feeling the warmth coming from her body as well as the tingling sensation that seemed to run everywhere he touched.

Cameron's CPU was having trouble to distinguish all of the information that it was being sent from the cyborg as unintentionally it had been gathering the output from John's body the second there was contact between the two of them. The only thing that was constantly being sent was a feeling of pleasure, as well as the increasing levels of testosterone from John's body. Move his mouth away from Cameron's, before slowly tracing kisses down the side of her neck that was given to him; he was forced to bite the inside of his mouth when the female in his grasp slowly started to grind her body against his causing enough friction to make take a small half step back. However the moan, or rather whine that she let out as he continued to lay kisses down the side of her neck was a clear signal that she wanted him to keep going.

"John." The call that came from inside the house was enough to force the two of them to pull away, like he didn't know where it came from, John stared at Cameron whose eyes seemed to bit slightly lit up as she looked back at him. With the haze that his mind was in, he fought the impulse to kiss Cameron again and ignore who was shouting for him, "Are you still here?" The second yell and question was the equivalent of throwing a bucket of cold water over him, pulling his hand back from where it seemed to have found a home under Cameron's top, John took a step away from her and back into the rain before pulling his hood back up; feeling the soaking sensation that was on his head. Forcing himself to not look at Cameron who hadn't moved from her spot pressed up against the side of the house, her head now cocked to the side; he thought that she was either teasing him or trying to get him to go back to her.

"This can't happen again," he whispered taking a step forwards but stopping when he watched as she tried to reach out and grab hold of him. "We have to forget that this ever happened." He added forcing himself to look away and not reach out and hold her when he saw the disappointed and hurt look flash through her brown eyes. John could have sworn that at that minute he felt his heart break.

"How do we do that?" Cameron asked him not understanding how they were meant to forget, or more importantly why it couldn't happen again. Unless her chip was taken from her head and this memory deleted there was no way that she could forget that it happened.

"We don't talk about it to anyone," John replied running his hand through his hair under the hood, stopping as he heard footsteps coming closer to the backdoor. "We don't tell anyone, and we don't do it again." He repeated making sure that she knew just how important that it was she understood what he was saying to her. Pushing her body away from the house and walking towards the door, Cameron stepped inside the warmth of the kitchen looking very much like she'd gone swimming fully dressed before turning to look at John over her shoulder.

"Thank you for explaining." She spoke softly before walking away from him. Turning away from the door and looking out once again at their back garden, John could do nothing but let out a bitter sigh, why did it seem so bad that Cameron was going to do what he had said. A soft pitter patter of feet caused him to turn back around and stare at Claire standing in the doorway, his jumper and shorts massive of her giving her the look of a small child playing dress up, or perhaps more likely a girlfriend stealing his clothes to wear.

"What are you doing in the rain?" she asked, her coat much like her top had been ruined in the attack so she had no desire to walk out in the rain to him. "Come in," she added before stepping to the side to let John past her, his trainers making a squelching sound on the floor from the water that had soaked them through. "Do you need to change?" Claire asked like this was her house John was staying at and not the other way around.

"No, I'm ok." John replied peeling his now drenched hoody off of his back and dropping it over a chair, the excess water that it couldn't hold spilling out of it and onto the floor. It was odd that this was the most normal he had felt in a long time."Are you ok?" he asked thinking back to what happened earlier, for a normal person or as much as Claire could be normal; he doubted that she was able to get over it or put it behind her as easy as she was showing. Nodding her head, the tiny blonde pulled the sleeve of the jumper further over her hand and looked ready to say something, before Cameron appeared in the doorway of the kitchen looking at the two of them intently; before her eyes found John.

"Sarah and Derek have phoned, they've informed Claire's parents that she'll be staying here tonight. But they are going to stay out longer than planned, recent events have taken a toll and they wish to unwind." She said sounding more like a machine and less like what John was used to, but he found it odd that Cameron had ignored Claire while talking about her, even though she was stood less than five feet away. He had thought his cyborg bodyguard didn't have a problem with her, unlike Riley who whenever she had been around was met with looks that said Cameron wanted to peel the flesh from her bones. Standing there as she continued to stare at John, having thought he would reply to her; she was met with a mere nod of his head.

"They're not the only ones that need time to unwind right now." He muttered in reply before walking past Cameron and towards the living room, both she and Claire followed him in as he dropped onto the couch now looking completely bored. Having been used to going where John went, Cameron was ready to sit down next to him until Sarah and Derek came back, however she found herself coming out second best as Claire got to the couch first. Pausing where she was, the female Terminator stared at the backs of both their heads, confusion as what she should do next. She found herself wanting to be the one sitting next to John, but knew any attempt to forcibly remove the blonde would result in a argument where she would have the blame placed on her.

Turning on her heel, Cameron picked up one of the shotguns that had been brought into the house and left behind by Sarah and Derek, slowly making her way around the outside of the living room looking through the windows for any threat to John that might arise. However like many times when he was around her, her gaze was brought back to her mission and she couldn't help but feel a slightly surge of jealousy which confused her as she watched Claire lay her head on John's shoulder. Switching her mode of vision so she could scan the female, she was unhappy about what it came back with.

**Target acquired: Claire Bennet.**

**Threat Level: Unknown**

**Terminate? ** Staring at the back Claire's head she switched back to her normal viewing mode, unsure why it came back as a question. Much like with Riley Cameron was unsure if she was going to be a threat towards John, neither of them seemed strong enough to cause him any damage but that would mean nothing if they could get a hold of a gun and put a bullet in-between his eyes. An image of John dead on the floor filled Cameron's mind, nearly going into a temporary shutdown from the surge inside her because of it; gripping the gun tighter she was unaware of her fingers sinking into the metal body.

"Is there something out there?" John asked having heard the groan of metal, and turned around to watch as it seemed his cyborg was going to crush the gun in her hands. The question was enough to bring Cameron back from her imagination, quickly turning to look at John not knowing why he thought there was someone outside the house, when she hadn't picked anything up.

"There are no threats outside the house," she replied taking a look out of the window to make sure, she was about to ask if he thought there was something out there and go and check it when she watched his eyes drop slightly to the gun in her hands. Shifting her grip on the gun and now holding it like it was no longer insulting her, Cameron's eyes flicked back to him to a second. "Thank you," she added before continuing her march around the house. Shaking his head slightly at her, John turned to Claire and nodded his head in the direction of the staircase; letting her get up and head towards them before he did. Having been alert to the movements around her, the slightly homicidal machine turned to look at the two teens, clearly seeing that they were going to leave the living room; her gaze lingered on John as he walked over to her, picking her head up slightly to keep eye contact with him.

"We'll be upstairs," he spoke quietly confusing Cameron as it seemed he didn't want Claire to hear him even if she would be going with him. The hand that John rested on her shoulder as he spoke slowly rose up so he fingers were brushing the side of her neck gently, which she didn't understand why he was doing it; only minutes before he had told her that they couldn't do anything anymore and yet here he was touching her in what could have been seen as an intimate way. "If any Terminator's show up, scream." He instructed her before letting go and walking away, frowning as she watched them leave, Cameron didn't understand his last statement; why should she scream if a Terminator showed up? Surely destroying it would benefit John more.

Having walked past his room earlier, but not actually knowing whose it had been, Claire could do nothing to stop the smile from forming on her face at the tiny bed that lay there and children toys.

"Oh my god. This is your room." She laughed watching as John walked in, an annoyed smile on his face, still having trouble getting used to being forced to sleep in a child's room. "It's cute, not what I would have pictured," Claire continued making way towards the bed and dropping onto it, seeing a small smile now forming on John's face she was ready to continue her teasing but stopped short when he opened a drawer and pulled a .45 ACP semi-automatic pistol out and laid it on top of his small bedside table. "Or not," she gulped looking from the gun to John who slowly turned around to face her, understanding showing on his face as he caught her worried look.

"It's for protection Claire, I'm not going to shoot you." He laughed, John knew that his comment wasn't going to win her over; dropping onto the end of the bed he stared at the only friend he had while he stayed in Odessa. "They won't stop Claire; the one that took you isn't the only Terminator out there trying to find a way to kill me. Cameron's the only one of them on my side, but if she was taken out of the picture and my mum and Derek aren't here; they'd kill me." There was still an uneasy look in her azure eyes as Claire stared back at him, "I grew up around guns, it's not going to go off by accident and kill me or you. You heard my story up to now." It was that comment, which brought back what Cameron had said when they first arrived back at the house, eyes narrowing as the worry left her body.

"You lied to me," she said quietly as John started to move around the room, picking things up and putting them somewhere else, while at the same time not actually cleaning up his room, the bizarre statement earned her a bemused look over his shoulder. "In Odessa, you acted like you couldn't remember me just after homecoming, but downstairs Cameron said you've got a small chip in your cerebral cortex to stop anyone or anything from affecting your memory." Turning around fully knowing that she deserved an answer for why he did what he did to her back then, "So you know that the he was sent to wipe your memory, and you let me believe that he did. I was alone and you made me force my way back into your life; you didn't tell me you knew. I could have kept it a secret but you said that we wouldn't play well together. You made no effort to try and act friendly to me, if I had given up you would never had bothered. I was alone!" Tears were once again flowing down Claire's face as she stared at John, who looked like he didn't know how to cope with her. Throw machines at him that wanted him dead and he was fine, a crying girl and it was the hardest thing in the world for John to deal with.

Moving back towards the bed, he reached out to her only for Claire to smack his hand away. Dropping it to his side John sighed.

"I did what I had to do Claire," he replied kneeling down so he could make eye contact with her, he was met with a sceptical look in return. "When he turned up, he told me what he was there to do, who sent him and then apologised. Don't come to me acting like this when it was your foster dad who sent him there to wipe my memory ok. If he had succeeded and I couldn't remember a thing I'd be dead right now; and every single person would be screwed over." John's annoyance came through with each word as he was forced to defend his actions, "If my mum hadn't come for me just after you found your real mum, who knows how long it would have been living there. Who knows what would have happened if I told you that I remembered. You really think your dad would have had me hanging around?" John's end comment saw an angry blonde who wasted no time in attempting to slap him across the face; the impact would have no doubt been heard all around the house. That was if any impact was made.

Perhaps in a showing of just what training he was forced to have through his life, John's hand wrapped around her much smaller wrist stopping her from making any contact with his face, that didn't mean anything to Claire though who brought her other hand up hoping to make contact. In a move of strength and flexibility that betrayed his slim build, John had moved onto the bed and with both of Claire's hands caught in his own, pulled her down and underneath his own body as he sat on her stomach; enough weight to make sure she couldn't move, but not hurting her; holding her hands above her head and near the foot of the bed.

"Get off of me," she growled out glaring up at John wondering how their conversation had taken such a turn so quickly. Unlike Cameron though who was only a few inches taller than her, Claire didn't have a hyper alloy combat chassis and neither did she possess a coltan frame; leaving her unable to toss John off of her body. "I said get off!" despite the anger in her voice when she spoke, there was no scream or yell that would alert Cameron to anything that was happening; instead there were only hushed angry tones.

"You will listen to me," John replied his own eyes showing anger as he stared down at her in a battle of wills, feeling her squirm under him and try to buck his body off would have had a different reaction if the situation wasn't the one they were in. "You found out what they did or tried to do to me, when I was still in Odessa, and you said nothing to me about it. Sure you tried to be my friend again, but you hardly came out and said it was your dad and his lackey." Continuing to stare down at her, John became aware of the position that they were in and started to move off of Claire before she was aware of the reaction his body was having to him being on her like that.

Having been waiting patiently for them to arrive back home with both John and Claire staying upstairs. In his room. Together. Cameron cocked her head to the side when the door opened, revealing a less stressed looking Sarah and Derek. She didn't know what they hoped to achieve by staying out longer then they should have, the claims that they hadn't had time to catch their breaths lately was lost on her; if they didn't stop Skynet and were once again forced to fight a war then they wouldn't be able to just take time off and go and relax when they felt like it.

"Where's John?" Derek asked looking at the metal and slightly concerned that she was holding a shotgun, it only came to his mind now that with them gone it would have gave Cameron more than enough time to incapacitate Claire and kill John before moving his body somewhere else. By the looks of things she was waiting for them to come back and finish the job.

"John and Claire retreated to his bedroom one hour and thirty seven minutes ago." Her comment earned a small smile from Derek as he turned away, he still mightn't trust the girl and felt as Sarah did it was a bad idea bringing her into their lives, but if it got him away from the machine then it was better for his brain coming up with worrying ideas. "One hour and twenty minutes ago, there was noise equivalent with that of aggressive movement on John's bed," this forced Derek to bite back the laugh and not look at Sarah having an idea that if she saw him smirking at this, she could very well go up there and break the door down. Watching as Sarah walked into the kitchen, the same irritation in her steps that had been in John's recently was curious; she had come home in a good mood.

Watching as the older woman slammed food from the fridge onto the counter, Cameron was waiting until she got her attention before getting ready to speak.

"What!?" Sarah spat not in the mood to have Cameron just stand there and stare at her after insinuating that John could be having sex with Claire, the thought itself was more than enough to make her want to go up there and throw the tiny blonde out of the house.

"In the future, Claire isn't a part of the resistance against Skynet," she spoke calmly and evenly the opposite of how she had taken to talking with John. "If she holds no purpose to us stopping Judgement day then why did John risk his life to save her?" it was something that had confused Cameron since they had rushed out after he had been able to convince Sarah that this was something they needed to do. When she first saw Claire she had scanned her face and found no results in the database of resistance fighters John programmed into her chip before sending her back, of course there was the probability that it had been erased when her chip was damaged but the likelihood of that was less then fifteen percent.

"John saved Claire because he felt he had to." Sarah replied only adding to the confusion that Cameron found about his actions, the trademark tilt of the head was proof enough of that. "Claire's his friend and he's only just found her again, she was in danger because the T-888 found out she knew John and wanted to use that to kill him, it almost worked as well." she continued still not giving Cameron a full answer, but the cyborg was ready to walk away like she always did. "John saved her because he felt he played a part in her being captured; he risked his life to save her because he cares about her." She finished turning away from the machine that was now looking at the back of Sarah's head.

"John risked his life to save me," Cameron replied, for a minute both of them stood there in silence, the Terminator waiting to see if she was going to get a reply to her statement, and Sarah silently fuming at what it had just said. It was the first slap in the face with the truth she didn't want to face since she watched her son pull a gun on them as he put the chip back in Cameron's head. "Thank you for explaining." She spoke again before walking out of the kitchen and away from the older woman.

_The sound of rain hammering against the roof of the house was more than enough to wake John up; years of training taught him to be a light sleeper. Groggily looking around his room and the fact that he was laying face down on his bed, taking up all of the room, rolling over to the edge to see if Claire was sitting down waiting for him to get up; John was greeted with an empty room. Unconcerned by the fact that he had apparently fell asleep full dressed having done it before, it was the feeling people say they get right before an earthquake or tornado that forced him to grab the .45 ACP pistol and tuck it into the back of his jeans._

_"Mum? Derek?" John called walking out onto the hallway only to see all of the doors were open and yet there was no-one there. "Cameron? Claire?" he tried again standing at the top of the stairs, worried that something had happened and knowing full well that with Skynet sending Terminator's back to kill him; he wouldn't be left alone john carefully crept down the stairs to see if anyone was there._

_The sight that greeted him in the living room wasn't something John wanted to see, Sarah was laying on her back blank eyes staring at the ceiling with a bullet hole in both her head and chest. Nearly collapsing as he stared at his mum's body, John rushed over to her, skidding along the floor in case whoever killed her was still around._

_"Mum?" he asked gently touching her side, bitter tears filled his eyes as he stared down at her body; she had gave up everything to make sure he lived and here he slept through someone killing her. A shotgun that she must have tried to defend herself with, was laying next to the couch having almost been kicked under it and out of sight. Grabbing hold of the weapon, John turned to look at the front door that had been kicked in; his face the mask of rage that it had been when Sarkissian had been beating her in front of him. Cocking the gun once to make sure it was ready to use, he started to walk towards the open door and outside, more than aware that he could be walking towards his death._

_If the sight of his mum's body on the floor almost made him comatose then outside the house almost casued him to drop dead. Derek was laying on the bonnet of the Viper 4 x 4 numerous gunshot wounds to his chest and stomach having torn him apart as well as the car, whoever had done this wanted to make sure there was no escape for anyone around here. Turning his head to try and find who the bastard was that murdered his family, John saw the next victim of the attack. Kacy was laying on the gravel, her head at a angle which told him her neck had been snapped, but the thing that was worse than that was the three bullet wounds to her stomach, whoever had done this made sure even her unborn baby would die._

_Unsure why he started to walk towards her body, not even making it half the distances, when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Spinning around John pointed the shotgun at the only other person around before slowly lowering it back to his side, holding it in one arm. Staring at him with her usual innocent and emotionless eyes was Cameron, just like John she took in her immediate surroundings without moving from her spot in front of their house where she appeared. Worried that she had turned back again, John was ready to ask her if she had done this._

_"You've changed things, John. Forever." She spoke quietly, having a feeling that this was going to be reminiscent of their 'You can't be trusted anymore' talk he carefully tightened his grip on the shotgun unsure whether he should take a shot at her before trying to flee. Before he could react to anything, the sky started to turn to an ominous red before what looked to be a giant could of smoke formed in the distance, the next thing John knew was the explosion that seemed to shake everything; and the cloud of smoke closing in. Lowering his head as he felt it hit him, he was more than aware of being caked in dust and dirt as it got into his mouth and nose making him choke.; forcing himself to look back up, his stomach dropped out._

_Half of Cameron's face had been torn off apparently from the explosion, leaving her staring at him. Half of her face was that of the girl he had come to know and even started have feelings for that complicated things far too much and the other half was what she really was, untouched coltan and metal gleamed in the rain that continued to fall from the blood red sky, a shinning blue eye more than a reminder of what she was. If that wasn't enough to make him want to start firing, then the dozens if not hundreds of glowing red eyes all forming behind her was, slowly the sound of metal feet closing in from all directions filled the air._

_"Skynet wins." Cameron continued dragging his attention back to her and not the Terminator's that had now surrounded them, "You're just a normal man, and the resistance exalted you. Made you something you're not, and you failed them. It's human nature to lift the great onto the shoulders of the weak, it was their mistake that they believed in you, and you are nothing. You're just a human male" Anger boiled John's blood as he listened to Cameron insult in the way she was, even if her speech didn't make any sense._

_"A teenager trying to run from the destiny fate has put in front of him." a second voice spoke, this one male and carried less emotion then Cameron's did. Turning to see where it came from. John had to fight the shiver that threatened to run down his spin at the sight of the T-1000 standing there in the police uniform it had used while chasing him five years ago. His grip on the gun was nearly painful as he watched its hand thin and lengthen into a large knife, that was if it could even be called a knife._

_"A child looking for someone to save them." The third voice was definitely more robotic then the first two, and John knew exactly what it was that spoke. To the left of Cameron was the T-800 the first Terminator that had been sent back to kill his mum and then save him. His first real father figure. Standing there in black jeans and a leather jacket, the sunglasses that it wore were half destroyed revealing a red eye staring back at him menacingly. The accusations that he couldn't do anything was more than enough to push his already knife edge temper too far. Lashing the gun up he took aim at the T-1000 that was now walking over to him with a purpose._

_"I'M STILL JOHN CONNOR!" he roared at it before pulling the trigger._

Almost jumping up from his position on the floor, John slowly and with a shaking hand wiped the layer of sweat off of his face before realising that his whole body was coated in it. Standing up and kicking the small sheet that had been over him away, he looked down to his bed at Claire who seemed happily snuggled in it; turning away from her and towards his open bedroom door, John's green eyes slammed into the brown of his Terminator protector before Cameron slowly walked away from his room.


	8. Chapter 8

Forcing his body to keep moving, despite both the protest in his aching legs and the sweat that was dripping down his face falling into and stinging his eyes. Turning to look over his shoulder once again, John pulled the hood up on his light jacket that he had thrown on before leaving the house early that morning, trying to run the tension that was building in his body off. After the nightmare he was all too used to seeing woke him up, John had failed trying to find any sleep after it. He didn't have any more nightmares, but that didn't meant the images that kept him awake were any more wanted at the minute, after seeing Cameron at his door; his mind had been filled with images of her. Or rather him and her, flashes of her body were constantly played in his head as he did things to her that would make porn stars blush, to make things worse it had come with surround sound. Every moan, groan, whimper and whisper of his name that came from her mouth was tattooed into his memory. Hench his run.

Stopping next to one of the trees that were around theirs and Kacy's homes, he slowly tried to collect his breath; thinking about the reasons that he had gone running only put the images back into John's head. Wiping the sweat that was gathering once again across the forehead with the back of his hand, John spun on his heel and started his run once again, going further away from his house; he didn't want to go back there just yet, his head was still a mess after what happened last night before he even went to bed. Kissing Cameron had not been something he had thought about doing, well not since she tried to kill him, it had crossed his mind once or twice before the car bomb but since then survival had been something that was at the forefront of his mind at all times. That and how his Terminator bodyguard seemed to have fit perfectly against him.

- - -

Standing next to a window staring out of the house, Cameron watched as John once again ran back into the wooded area that offered some privacy and protection for them but also a brilliant ambush point for a Terminator that wanted him dead. She had been ready to re-start her patrols of the house that morning when he had left to go on his run. That had been close to two hours ago and since then she hadn't moved from her spot at the window watching him every time he came back; she was going to join him but wasn't given the chance as John left seconds after getting out of bed. And now with Sarah and Derek both being out of bed, used to having to get up early Cameron had thought that John would have returned.

"What are you doing?" Sarah asked, having stood in what would have been the doorway to the kitchen watching the machine stand perfectly still for the last minute. Since the car bomb and Cameron's attempt of killing her son before inexplicably coming back to their side, she'd been worried about the Terminator; there were times when it seemed all it would take was a small push and she'd once again be trying to kill them all.

"John has been running for one hour and forty eight minutes," she spoke ignoring the question altogether, causing Sarah to glare at the back of her head, after the night before and the small talk between the two of them she didn't like it when Cameron talked about her son in any other aspect other than protecting him. "Every circuit he has completed after his third has been twenty one and a half seconds slower than the last. It won't be long before his body starts to produce too much adrenaline for him to maintain his exercising, such an event will likely end with John suffering from shin splints." She added still staring out the window waiting to see if he was going to come back into view any time soon. A harsh cough from behind her earned Cameron's attention who saw that Sarah was continuing to just glare at her and she didn't know why, it was only when she watched the older woman raise her eyebrow did she realise she hadn't actually answered the question. "I'm scanning the area for any movement other then John running." She finished watching as Sarah walked away and back into the kitchen to try her hand at cooking once again.

Pushing the grill under and making sure that the bacon she was cooking for her son wasn't going to burn, Sarah was trying to control her desire to tear the cyborg's eyes out and feed them to her. The insinuation last night that John had saved her because he cared about her just wasn't true, as a mother she knew that as a fact, just as she would know when her son had feelings for someone. Pausing as she looked to where the Terminator was still standing, Sarah wondered if that were actually true. She had watched John freeze when Cameron begged for her life and almost the air of defeat that formed around him when she proclaimed her love for him and his for her; it could be put down to the emotions of what happened that day including her having witnessed her violently latch onto Sarkissian before snapping his neck to protect her. But the way he tried to convince Derek to let him save Cameron, before taking matters into his own hands as he tricked them into thinking he was going to be the one to ignite the flare.

"Why's she playing statue?"a voice asked from behind her, turning to look over her shoulder at Derek who much like she was earlier decided to glare at the back of Cameron, he had effectively broken her thoughts of what Cameron had said to her the night before.

"She's watching John run." Sarah replied once again looking at the machine both of them now had problems trusting, it wasn't the same for the bitter resistance fighter who never trusted her and had repeatedly said she'd turn on them; but for Sarah who much like John had trusted her maybe too much, was forced to face the stark reality that she could slit their throats while they slept. Starting with her son.

"John's gone out running?" Derek now asked, he had been one of the few that knew why John would go for a run wherever was safe in the future, he Kyle and if he guessed the metal were the only three entitled to that. He wondered if the reasons were the same for his nephew in this time, but before he could say any more the front door was opened, and in stepped a heavily breathing John who was coated head to toe in sweat.

With a quick look at Cameron, who seemed to be quite happy to just stare at him; shaking his head briefly John started heading towards the kitchen needing a drink never noticing that his protector's eyes stayed glued to him as he walked away. Now that she knew he was safe and didn't have a reason to just stand there anymore, the terminator didn't know whether to follow John into the kitchen or wait for them to come back to the living room; however she got her answer in an unlikely source. Light footsteps signalled someone walking down the uncarpeted staircase drawing Cameron's attention, tilting her head as she watched Claire smile at her before walking to the kitchen having seen John go in there seconds earlier.

Brown eyes frowning as she took ion the blondes attire, registering that she had once again dressed in John's clothing. Cameron once again felt the same surge that shot through her three times last time, when Claire had sat down next to John on the couch and she had been forced to look for any threats, when he took her up to his room leaving Cameron downstairs on her own and the last had been when she went to check on John and saw Claire sleeping peacefully and with a smile on her face while in his bed. She knew that humans would have called what she was feeling jealousy, but that didn't make any sense to her; she couldn't get jealous. Despite that she found herself following Claire into the kitchen determined to decide whether she was a threat that should be removed from john's presence.

"You need to take a shower," Sarah told her son watching as she gulped down the water from the bottle, holding the plate of bacon, eggs and pancakes she'd made for him until he'd been washed and wasn't stinking out her kitchen; something that she didn't usually care about. Any indignant reply that seemed poised to make was cut short by both Claire and Cameron walking into the kitchen, the two of them females choosing different places to stand in the kitchen. "Go and get washed," she repeated firmer then the first time she spoke, after last night Sarah was trying to figure out just what was going on not only with their Terminator but also Claire, the girl that knew her son from Odessa. There seemed to be something between the two of them, a closeness that didn't fit the John she knew and raised, but that didn't fill Sarah with any sort of happiness. Cameron's claim that there was noise which was equivalent to aggressive movement on John's bed while he and Claire were in his room didn't sit too well with her. Her immediate thoughts had been that the two had sex and it still hadn't changed even after she slept on it, she knew that they were both teenagers but that didn't mean she was happy with John having sex with girls that walked back into his life.

Setting the shower to a colder temperature than normal, John gasped in shock when he stepped under the water and take to take several deep breathes to try and adjust to it before his breathing came slower and more even. Unlike with a warm or hot shower he had no desire to spend too long in it right now even if it was easier to warm up then cool down. Grabbing the bar of soap and washing the layer of sweat that stuck to his body almost gleaming under the light of the bathroom. Almost on instinct John's fingers ghosted over the homemade stitches in his side; feeling his skin tauten each time he moved, it was becoming annoying with him having to stop himself from putting too push pressure on that part of his body, and he didn't think anyone would be too happy if he just pulled the stitches out.

Upon walking into his room, John was quick to close his door and slot the small chain that he attached to it the night before across making sure no one would be able to just walk in. The past few days had resulted in him feeling like banging his head against a brick wall knowing he'd get further that way, because nothing else seemed to be making any sense. Claire just barging back into his life in the way she had was a shock, and so far it hadn't seemed like any time had passed between the two of them; after his repeated displays of apathy as well as telling her she just couldn't walk into his house, John had also managed to stop Riley from being his shadow; pulling his grey jumper over the black t-shirt he wore he noticed the destroyed pieces of Lego in his bin, apparently someone else agreed. That left him with the most confusing piece of the puzzle. Cameron. He had no idea what he thought about her anymore, if kissing her had been a mistake on his part then why did he still feel so bad when he pictured her face after telling her it couldn't happen again?

"John?" his uncles call was quickly followed by a single knock on his door, shaking his head from the thoughts which were swirling around he made his way over to the door and pulled the chain across before opening it up. "We need to talk." Derek said walking into the room before looking around and the size of it, slowly his eyes found his nephew disbelief there. "You know we could make the metal swap with you," he laughed before dropping down onto the bed and staring at John. "She told Sarah that she heard noises up here last night when you and Claire were alone, your mum thinks you two had sex." Hearing him say that, John's brain seemed to be split in two, one half was running around screaming that he did not want to have the sex talk with his uncle; the other half was enraged that not even being on the same floor as him Cameron had been able to spy on what he was doing. "I don't really care if you did or didn't, but you have to send her home. Now. We need to go over our next move, and no matter how close you two are she can't be involved in this."

Watching Derek walk out of his room, John turned and kicked the small bin into the wall opposite him pieces of the broken Lego robot fell out and onto his floor, his anger that Cameron had what it looked like rushed off to tell his mum that he had a girl in his room was what he would have guessed a child to do. Walking out of his room and starting his slow decent downstairs, John was hoping that when he saw her he no longer had the desire to tear Cameron's pretty little head off of her body, she had some serious problems. Knowing that Derek telling him that he to have Claire go home, meant that both Sarah and Cameron knew what was going to happen it didn't surprise him to find everyone in the living room.

"Can we talk, outside?" he asked Claire before placing his hand on her lower back and leading the tiny blonde towards the door, as John closed the door behind them he rolled his eyes at the fact all three of them were watching his every move. He knew that he had to do this, but he also wanted to do it with a bit more kindness then his ejection of Riley from his life. "They ummm. My mum and Derek have got a lead on some stuff that involves Terminators, so for now you're going to have to go home. Things will be ready to heat up around here and you can't be here when it does, it won't be safe." Handing her the car keys to her BMW that had been left on the bathroom floor after they got her to their house after the attack, John made sure that the expression on his face told her this wasn't his idea, even if he couldn't actually say that; knowing the chances are he'd be heard.

"Ok." Claire looking like she didn't understand why she was being told to go back home, but it wasn't something she was in the position to argue just yet. Azure eyes stared into John's worry etched in them, after having heard his story she was more concerned about how dangerous this was for him; even if he had been doing it all his life. "So you can come to my house with me, my mum and dad will be shocked to see you again." She added a smile now lighting up her face, she knew what she was doing and by the look on John's face so did he.

"No Claire, you're going to go to your house alone. They're going to need me to stay here." He replied looking at her, not trying to smile like she had because there wasn't a point. Looking down at the floor, John was shocked when Claire's arms wrapped around his waist for the third time since he saw her again, with an almost bitter smile John hugged her back a more natural feeling to it then the time in the shop. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I'm used to doing this type of thing." That sole statement made it feel like some had just grabbed her heart and started to squeeze, blinking back any tears that tried to fall Claire didn't know what to say to the fact that this was John's life and he was used to being in danger enough to think of it was normal.

Feeling one of her hands slowly travel up his back and rest of his now shortened hair, John knew exactly what she was going to try and do; which was why when Claire started to lean up to him he stepped away from her, offering the confused blonde a sad smile. "Now really isn't the best time." He whispered to her, watching as one of the tears that she tried to blink away earlier rolled down her cheek, before she nodded her head and started walking towards her car. No, now wasn't the best time for anything to happen between them, and in Odessa hadn't been the best time either. It never was when you were John Connor.

Stepping back into the house, and seeing his _family_ all sitting in the same spots on the couch, looking like they'd been waiting for him to come back inside. More than a little irritated that his short reprieve from his life was just that, short. John stood at the end of the couch next to Cameron but not seeing her.

"So what's this lead you've got?" he asked staring at them trying to keep the lid on his anger at the fact that he couldn't be normal for even a full day.

"We found out that someone, or something is buying up everything you'll have the resistance use in the future." Derek started keeping his eyes on John, before they quickly flashed over to Cameron. "The only thing that could have any idea of what to buy is a Terminator sent back by Skynet to make sure we don't win the war. It started with the power plant at Serrano Point. Not even a day after we saved it, a company rushed in and bought it. Weapon manufactories that help John arm the first part of the resistance and later will arm our own tanks against Skynet, industries that have the metal we need to fortify our bases and make the passes that identify us as resistance fighters. They're all being bought by a shadow company." He finished looking at them; he knew that even if they understood what he was saying to them, it was only Cameron that knew just how bad this was.

"Skynet wins." She spoke looking at Derek before her eyes found John, the importance of them being able to make sure that if they couldn't stop Skynet from being made in this time then at least this John would have everything he needed to win wasn't lost on her.

"So how do we stop it?" Sarah asked, the three of them hadn't saved Serrano Point just for Skynet to swoop in and make sure the resistance couldn't use it anyway.

"Someone that knows what company is buying everything, is supposed to be out tonight in a club. Find him, make him talk. You'll find out just who's buying everything up." Derek replied sounding like this was going to be easy for them, something experience had taught the four nothing was ever easy when they needed to do something.

"So we'll go," John spoke for the first time since asking why they needed the house to just have the four of them in it, his eyes flashing down to Cameron to indicate who he meant by _we_. Seeing the looks he was getting from both his mum and uncle he could only sigh knowing full well that they'd have a problem having him go anywhere with Cameron on his own anymore. "Do you really think either one of you could blend in a nightclub?" he asked fully aware of his mum not being able to relax and if she was anywhere that was meant to be fun out stick out like a sore thumb, not to mention that Derek was a little trigger happy. "No one will believe you two are trying to enjoy yourselves, you'll be thrown out or look just too suspicious and nothing will happen. We'll go." He finished trying to hide the fake hurt looks he was getting from both his mum and uncle that they wouldn't be able to blend in, slowly walking towards the stairs, he turned to look over his shoulder and stared at Cameron who hadn't taken her eyes off of him since she had spoken. "Make sure you look good." He added with what seemed to be a cheeky grin.

- - -

"This is not a date." John whispered repeatedly as he stood in his room, dressed in clothes that could only have been picked out by his Terminator protector knowing that his mum had no idea what he like to wear. He turned to look in the small mirror that had been attacked to the wall above the small chest of drawers. Dark blue jeans that bordered on black if you didn't look close enough fit more comfortably then he thought they would since he doubted Cameron knew what measurements he was, he was wearing his usual black t-shirt but over it was a short sleeved white shirt only the top three buttons were open. Leaving his room after running his hand through his still newly shortened hair at times forgetting that he had practically hacked it off with a pair of scissors; John started walking down the stairs to wait for his companion.

If he had been trying to convince himself that this was a mission and not a date while he was in his room, then John was more than ready to think otherwise seeing both his mum and Derek sitting there waiting for him. The looks they gave him for some reason seemed more like those that a parent would give him the first time they met him after asking their daughter out; silently taking in what he was wearing and the more confident stride as he made his way over to the couch before sitting down. It was only the fact that he'd been trained to fight machines that kept John sitting there, otherwise from the looks he was getting he would have long ran for the door screaming. Cameron keeping them waiting didn't seem to help matters for him.

The soft near undistinguishable sound of someone on the stairs caused John to look up, hoping that his eyes didn't go as wide as it felt that they did; he was sure that he had told Cameron to go and look good, not go and try to give him a heart attack. Walking down the stairs as graceful as ever, the female Terminator had decided that looking good consisted of wearing the same short leather skirt she had put on when in the bar with Derek and Sarah, and a black blouse that stopped just under her breast leaving more than enough skin on show for John to either beg for someone to kill him or celebrate, showing that she understood just what she could fit into any scene. She had even changed her makeup that she used every day for reasons only she knew, no longer the softer colours that she had taken to wearing, John's eyes were drawn quickly to her shinning red lips wondering if machines were trying some new type of torture to kill him; go far enough to use a black eye liner giving her a added smouldering look.

"Are we ready to leave?" Cameron asked, almost a hint of a smile on her face as she watched John slowly stand up, his head tilted to the side as his eyes raked across her body not knowing where to stop for a second. The high-heels she had found females liked to wear gave her an extra inch in height, making her legs seem longer which from the way his eyes darted down more then once John liked.

"We'll be back later." John finally said managing to look at his mum and uncle who were now glaring at both him and Cameron, no doubt they were more than ready to come up with a reason as to why he couldn't be alone with her, and he would have agreed with them; not knowing if the gun that had been left in the car they'd be using would be enough protection for him or anyone that looked at her. Almost on instinct much like with Claire, John's hand lay on Cameron's lower back as he led her towards the door; only this time his fingers on their own violation started to travel up and down the exposed skin.

"Is this suitable for a nightclub?" she asked once they had gotten in the car and started driving, the innocence in her voice that had often been there when she first found John and needed him to explain something, if he didn't know better he would have guessed she was teasing him.

"Yeah, it's suitable." He coughed forcing himself to not look at her while they were driving, but when the street lights hit the windshield there was nothing that he could do to stop her image forming within his eye line. His knuckles turning white as he gripped the steering wheel harder then he needed to, John was fighting the urge to make Cameron build a TDE, go to the future and blow his own brains out for sending someone back that looks like her. Slowly as the roads started to open out more the nightclub that directed had told them about started to come into view. Stopping their 4 x4 in a space as near to the club as he could, John stared at it in contemplation. Sleek and black with stood out against the other buildings on the street with bright white letters spelling MODO above it, coming up large glass windows that spanned the front of the club giving it a more exclusive feel.

Stepping out of the car, and moving around it to help Cameron out, John's eyes were once again drawn to her seemingly longer legs before the rest of her body flowed out of the car in what could have been slow motion. He didn't expect her to link her arm through his and lean against him as they walked towards the throng of people trying to get inside, _not a date, not a date, not a date. _ Was once again repeated in his head as the smell of the perfume his cyborg protector had put on assaulted his nose. As the line slowly started to head towards the open double doors, John stared ahead all the while aware that Cameron was assessing everyone around them either looking and wondering if they were a threat or just taking in what they wore; in retrospect to herself. With five people being turned away in a row, it didn't take long before it was their turn to try and get into the club; John's blood was nearly set on fire from the way the bouncer's eyes travelled over Cameron.

"You sure you're old enough to go in here?" he asked her ignoring John completely even though Cameron was still hanging onto him, if she caught on to the bouncers tone or the way that his eyes never stayed on her face she didn't show it. Instead a small giggle, biting her lip slightly and nodding was enough to get both of them inside without any i.d. being asked for. Turning to look at the girl on his arm, John could only shake his head as he was once again shown how good she was at making herself seem completely human.

"Go and blend in." He whispered to her before shaking his arm free and walking away, tilting her head to the side as she watched him leave; Cameron didn't know why he told her to blend in when they were meant to be looking for someone. Seeing that everyone was quickly making their way to the large dance floor that was up two steps away from the bar area, she followed them before looking over her shoulder to see where John was, seeing him standing off to the side of the bar and scanning the area around him she turned away again. Used to having instructions or rather them being told to her to a fuller extent, she stood there looking around at the other people who were dancing trying to understand what the purpose was. Slowly her HUD was able to pick out what they dancing for, the sole reason for the way that they were dancing was seduction and in some cases she observed to copulate with their clothes on. An effective way if they asked her opinion, as all reproductive organs were hidden by the clothes, in some cases more than others.

Having watched as Cameron made her way to the dance floor under him telling her to blend in; John had turned away trying to figure out just who would be the person they were here to get information off. If Derek had realised it or not he hadn't told them anything about who they were looking for, just that they'd be here tonight. Eyes flicking back over to her and frowning slightly as Cameron just stood there looking out of place, John shook his head before slowly walking over to the bar, if anyone came in and looked like they were there for anything other than to relax he'd have the perfect spot to see them.

"First one's on the house for all new faces." The bartender said grinning slightly as he dropped the glass in front of John and staying in front of him. Not being a drinker at all, or rather never having had the chance to be anywhere he could drink, he tilted the glass back and had to force himself to swallow before coughing onto the bar. "Triple Jack Daniels and Coke, just to see how they react." The bartender laughed as he slapped John on the back lightly still grinning, before walking over to the girl that was helping him that night. Wiping his mouth slightly, John looked up at the collection of bottles above the bar, before movement in the mirrors caught his attention. Spinning around in his chair he watched as a group of girls headed in Cameron's direction and started to talk to her, smiles on their faces, not sure if this was going to end well John was more than ready to jump up and go over there if anything happened; but the only movement that happened was his eyes widening for the second time that night, as Cameron and the girls that had gone over to her started dancing around each other.

Cameron's CPU had allowed her to absorb the dance moves from the other groups of people on the floor, and so when the girls had started to dance around her, she was quick enough to know how to react. Looking up her eyes quickly found John staring back at her, and as brown hit green unlike the others dancing around her she kept her eyes open watching for his reaction to her dance. Registering his heart race increasing the longer he watched her, as well as his breathing coming heavier Cameron allowed a small smile to form on her face that she knew he wouldn't see, before closing her eyes.

"I wouldn't leave your girl up there on her own." The bartender said walking back over to John having seen the two of them stare at each other while Cameron danced seemingly for him. Turning to look over his shoulder John stared back at him before tilting the drink to his mouth being careful on how much he took this time.

"Why?" he asked taking the time to look at her in the mirror not denying the statement that she was his girl, "she's fine." He added, this time looking back out at Cameron dancing. Vaguely aware that the group she was with was slowly dwindling as they paired off with other people, it wasn't something John cared about though. He couldn't take his eyes off of her because of the way she was dancing; he was once again being forced to feel things that both Sarah and Derek had constantly told him were wrong to feel for her.

John wasn't the only one that was watching her sensual and seductive dance though; a few people that had been watching Cameron dancing alone from the looks of things having no one with her decided that she could dance with them. Frowning, he watched as a group of three teens probably a year or two older than him, made their way over to his girl; before they started to dance with her but not with actually with her at the same time. Jaw clenched as he thought that she would have pushed them away from her, his eyes turned to pin-pricks as he watched on in disbelief as Cameron turned to one of them and started to dance leaving barely any room between their bodies.

"Still think she's fine?" the bartender asked staying behind John as he fought back the laugh that was trying to bubble up, "it looks to me like your girl wants to piss you off." Now turning his attention to the male that he was talking to, the bartender froze almost seeing the tension and anger flowing off of him as he watched them dance. "A word of advice kid, they won't care if she's got a boyfriend or not, if they think they can get her into bed they'll go for it." The last sentence was too much for John, sliding not even his half finished drink across the bar, he stood up and starting waking his way over to the dancing group, four and a half long strides it took for him to cover the distance before barging into the back of the one dancing with Cameron.

"Hey, what's your problem." He asked turning to stare at John as did his two friends and Cameron who tilted her head to the side.

"Back off," he growled back, his green eye seemed like they were glowing dangerously due to the strobe lighting of the club. Not even waiting for a reply, John's hand wrapped around Cameron's wrist gently as he turned his attention to her, a usual confused and innocent look in her eyes despite what had happened just seconds before. "We need to talk." Turning on his heel he started walking towards the exit, Cameron having no choice but to follow him if she didn't want to show how strong she was and pull her hand out of his grip, it was only when they were on the opposite side of the street and next to the car did John turn to look at her again. Positioning Cameron so she was in front of the car, and his back to the street. "What was that?" he asked her, anger and frustration was forcing him to breathe heavily.

"I was blending in," she replied tilting her to the side like she always did when she didn't understand something, "I watched how people were interacting in the club and copied them." She added watching John warily for his reaction, she didn't understand what was wrong with what she had been doing, he had told her to blend in and now that she had he seemed angry with her.

"Is that what you call what you were doing? Blending in?" he asked with a bitter laugh. His eyes never leaving hers and for the second time he could see the small amount of fear that was forming much like had been there when he backed her up against the wall of their house when he wanted to leave.

"Yes." Cameron replied before pausing. "I was dancing." Her answer was met with a bitter laugh from John as he started to pace in front of her, waves of anger was flying off of him.

"Since when did you dance like that? They probably thought you'd open your legs for them before the night was out!" Turning to look at her, John couldn't stop himself from asking his last question. "Would you?" frowning as she didn't understand his question, as technically her legs couldn't close as they was always going to be some sort of gap, however like with many phrases that she didn't understand her CPU quickly started to bring up different definitions before it clicked what John was asking her.

"No. I wouldn't have engaged with a sexual relationship with any of them," she said sounding hurt that he thought she would have, her eyes found the floor as Cameron tried to understand why John was acting like this to her. Since he dragged her out of the club everything about his actions screamed anger and jealousy which didn't make any sense, since he had been the one that told her nothing could happen between them. "Did you want me to dance with you?" she asked causing him to glare at her as Cameron slowly reached out to touch his shirt only to have John smack her hand away. "Were you jealous that I was interacting with them and not you?" there was a hint of a challenge in her voice this time, as she stepped away from the car and into his face. His heart beating at what seemed to be a thousand times a second, and his body burning from his self sustaining anger, John was struggling to do anything that wouldn't come back and bite him in the ass.

"Why would I be jealous or even want you to dance with me like that?" he spat back at her venom in his laced his voice causing her to recoil. Good he was angry and hurt because of her and he wanted to see if he could make her feel the same way. But at the same time, he didn't like hurting her.

"All of your actions say you were jealous, which contradicts you saying that nothing could happen between us. If so you have no reason to be jealous of me giving attention to another male." Cold logic slapped him in the face as Cameron turned to try and enter the car, but before she could even reach for the door handle she was spun around and pushed back first into the car as her body bending to accommodate for her new position. His face not even an inch away from hers John grabbed hold of Cameron's wrist and put them above her head not even thinking that if she wanted to she could break free and throw him across the road with ease. "Let me go." She ordered without any intent of trying to free herself.

"For fuck sake," he muttered before looking down at the floor, a brief second passed before his eyes bore into hers. "I didn't like I because I love you." His confession seemed to take both of them off guard as John let go of her and started to step away never taking his eyes off of her. "Ok? I LOVE YOU!"


	9. Chapter 9

A/n: Well i'm back, and it seemed that i was gone longer then i really was, but there are times when you just need to sit back and relax while doing other things and have a look at what other people have done. I also come with gifts. Two gifts. I've had two trailers made for the story by Kiska/Elekta depending on what sites you use. http://uk (dot)youtube (dot)com/watch?v=4eBC1Qc5_7c thats for the black and white trailer. And the colour one is http://uk(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=4w1qrCYFmek You know what to do with the links, just change the (dot) to a . Or search for Cyborgscouse on youtube to look at them.

- - -

_'Ok? I LOVE YOU!'_ The words spoken seconds before circled around Cameron's head as she continued to stare at John who hadn't moved from his spot since shouting his confession at her. It was like floodgates had been opened to her after he said it, as she thought back to the way he had been both before and after the explosion and her reverting back to Skynet's default settings. The looks and small touches he had given her during their months of hiding including him constantly defending her against Derek and his mum when they had said she would either betray or had betrayed them; which had been her main reasoning for telling him that she loved him when all she wanted to do was tear out his throat. Then there was how John had changed after she had tried to kill him, the coldness or at time him being aloof around her, something that was only intensified when she told him that she had lied about loving him. It was because he loved her.

Feeling like someone else had been in control of his body when he blurted out his feelings, John stood there wishing more than anything that he could go and hide in a cave and wait for Judgement day to come from the way that Cameron was just staring at him. He wished that she would do or say something, anything; as long as she wasn't staring at him the way she was, but she continued to just watch him giving him the feeling that she wasn't actually looking at him once again. Taking a step towards Cameron, John tired to close the distance that he had made just after his first confession and before his louder second one, however his move was stopped by the tiny hand that pressed against his chest enough force to hurt him if he tried to get closer.

"Cam?" John asked not sure what was going on with her, more than aware that this could end badly with her and the fact that unless she wanted him to he wouldn't be able to close the half a foot separating them, John was forced to wait. Slowly Cameron's hand started to move from the top of his chest just below his collarbone to under his left pectoral before it rested there. Tilting her head to the side, as her brown eyes stayed glued to where her hand was, Cameron seemed to be fascinated by the feeling of John's heartbeat that seemed to speed up the longer her hand was over it. She had been able to tell that he was telling the truth when he told her he loved her; but could she love him? She protected him before the explosion because it was her mission, but since she had been reactivated in that burnt out car and overridden her Termination order for John she no longer had a mission, that confused her as her head tilted to the side even more. If she didn't have a mission why did she continue to protect him? "Cameron?" John repeated trying to get a reaction out of her, but it seemed she was happy to feel his heart beating in his chest.

The female Terminator's attention was only snapped away from the rhythmic beating that she could feel through her finger tips, when John's hand was placed on her own chest where her heart should have been. Fearful Cameron's eyes snapped up to look at John, him saying that he loved her no matter how confused she was about her being able to reciprocate had touched something in her; but was it said in the heat of the moment and now feeling that she didn't have a heart would he remember what she was and pull away.

"I don't have a heart." Cameron whispered deciding that it seemed to fit the atmosphere around them, keeping her eyes on John not aware of how odd they might have looked to anyone that walked past. If that was where she had thought he would have pulled away from her, Cameron didn't know why a small smile formed on his face as two of John's fingers started to tap against her chest, it took her a few seconds to realise that he was mimicking the rhythm of a heart.

"No, but you can share mine," he replied whispering as she had done the smile still on his face as he stared at her. The smile was copied on Cameron's face as something akin to relief flowed through her. Not taking her hand off of him; she allowed it to glide up John's chest the feeling of his shirt registering against her skin as she continued to stare at him. For his part, John didn't know what she was doing and made no move to stop her as he felt her hand slide along his neck, Cameron's hand finally stopped on his cheek; cupping it like he'd done to her when they had been outside the house. Fingers running along his cheek, without having to take her hand off of his face she traced the light stubble that was forming on him; the softer feeling to it amazed her when she compared it to the roughness that it would be like in the future.

Covering her hand with his own, John guided it down to his mouth where he placed a soft kiss in the centre of her palm, slightly amused that Cameron seemed to be so confused by what he was doing. Possibly seeing that for the first time since his confession she wasn't trying to stop him from getting closer, John took the step that he had tried to earlier removing his hand from hers; with a tilt of his head he finally did what he'd wanted to do since entering the nightclub.

Freezing when she felt his mouth over hers, Cameron had been ready to throw him off of her telling him that it wasn't meant to happen again between them. That was before she was taken back to the night outside their house and she remembered just how much she liked the feeling of John kissing her, his affection existing for only her.

Slowly Cameron melted against John as her lips parted slightly allowing him to deepen the kiss if he chose to, her hand that had moved once again to his cheek wrapped around his neck as her free hand followed it. Vaguely aware that she was once again leaning against the car, Cameron arched her body trying to keep her body in contact with John's as much as she could, unlike him however she kept her eyes open watching as the hand that was around her waist and finger running up and down her side; slowly travelled to her hair before it laced into it; it was only then did she once again allow herself to fall into the kiss this time closing her eyes.

For one of the few times in his life, John was letting himself feel what was right instead of thinking about what was right, and it was that line of thought that made deepen the kiss as his tongue slid over the girl in his arms. Before he even knew what had happened, he found his back against the car and Cameron in front of her as she broke the kiss for a second, but kept her arms locked around him.

"Do we have to forget about this too?" she asked more timid then she when she had asked if it was right that she had kissed him back at the house, not watching as John took a few breathes before staring at her, it was definitely a flaw in humans and one she would see more of if they were going to continue this. Looking into those two brown doe eyes, it clicked in his head that despite his confession Cameron was waiting for him to pull away and repeat the words he had used last time they had kissed, and once again it felt like someone had stabbed him in the chest seeing her worried look.

"No," he replied looking at the floor before his green eyes bore into hers, "We don't have to forget this." The smile that formed on Cameron's face and the way that her eyes lit up only made John smile back at her; he hadn't thought about what she had felt if anything after he told her it couldn't happen again. With a sly smile on her face, she pressed her body against John's as she pulled him back down to kiss him once again. This time his hands resting on the skin that she had on show, John knew that the chances of time keeping any control over his body wasn't going to last long if Cameron carried on pressing her body against his as well as making those little whining noises, that wasn't counting the fact that she had now removed one of her hands from around his neck and it had the buckle on his belt in a death grip; her knuckles grazing his stomach.

This time it was John who pull away from her, keeping his hands on Cameron he gave her a small smile before looking down at where her hand was resting. Slowly her eyes followed his before looking back up at him, head now tilted to the side not knowing what the problem was, she knew what followed people kissing the way that they had been and the amount of sexual tension that was apparently building up in John with the way he couldn't keep his hands still; all she was trying to do was move things along.

"Maybe we should go back," he said his voice betraying the words, it only added to the confusion that was flowing through Cameron who was trying to understand what had happened in the past few seconds; but as she used to do with situations she didn't understand; she was going to trust John's judgement here even if she didn't like it. Taking the time to look back down at her hand that hadn't moved from their place on his belt buckle, he raised an eyebrow at Cameron who kept her eyes on his face. "So, do you think you should let go?" he asked fighting off the smile that was forming due to the fact she didn't seem to want to let go of him. On cue her hands released him, and Cameron took a step back watching him to see what his next move would be. Opening the car door behind him, John made a motion for her to climb into the car; laughing slightly as she continued to have trouble with getting into the car as she had done when they left from the tightness of her skirt. With a shake of his head knowing the chances are Cameron could end up tearing the skirt off if she didn't get into the car soon, and while he wouldn't complain if she did John knew that it would be hard to explain when they got back home, placing his hands on either hip, he helped lift her into the car when she started to step up once again grinning at her confused look.

"If you wished to see what underwear I was wearing you could have asked." She spoke once John was in the driver's seat misunderstanding why he had grabbed hold of her when she was trying to get into the 4 x 4.

"Err, I'll remember that." he replied his face turning red, he was trying to drive them home and the thought of what underwear she had on wasn't something he needed at the minute, and from her statement it didn't seem like Cameron would have had a problem if he did ask her to show him. Taking the chance to look in the rear view mirror and seeing the dark red lipstick on his mouth, he tried to wipe it off with one hand while keeping the car in the right lane. Not having noticed John's attempts to wipe the lipstick off Cameron kept her eyes forward, until she was unable to not look to see why his arm was higher than the steering wheel; tilting her head to the side as she watched him once again swipe at his face only serving to smear the lipstick around his mouth more.

"You require assistance," she said before leaning towards John unaware that he was trying to keep his eyes on the road and not her coming closer to him. Within seconds though, he couldn't see anything past Cameron's hair as her head rest against the bridge of his nose, breathing slowly out of his nose so he didn't inhale any of her hair he had to fight the urge to sneeze from the smell of shampoo that was invading his senses. He was able to keep most of his focus on trying to peer through her dark brown hair and onto the road, but that went out of the window when he felt Cameron's slightly cold finger run along his mouth removing the lipstick. Or that was what he thought she was doing, but after thirty seconds where she had continued to run her finger across his mouth alternating from either lip confused him.

"Cam, what are you doing?" he asked his eyes taking the spare seconds that the red traffic light gave him to look down at her head, there was no verbal reply as she continued to trace his mouth gently almost like a baby who was fascinated by anything around them. Slowly her head picked up and no longer was her hair filling his vision but her brown eyes staring into his, no matter what happened between them not even ten minutes ago or the night before didn't remove the unsettling feeling that filled his stomach as he stared back. Almost jumping in shock, or he would of if he could; Cameron straddled him her legs bent for her so she could. Blood pumping in John's ears left him unable to hear the sounds of car horns behind him as his protector's face came closer to his own; it wasn't long before the quickly becoming sensation of her mouth crashed against his own. Being a teenager that while not as much as the rest of them, was still ruled by hormones and having Cameron straddling him and kissing him was definitely one of those times, John didn't waste any time in returning the kiss.

"Drive," she whispered to him suddenly breaking the kiss and moving her face away, having John try to follow her. "Drive." She repeated seeing that he hadn't made any move to do what she had instructed out of her peripheral vision she could see someone walking towards the car. Pushing the handbrake back down and pressing his foot against the pedal, John didn't know how his was meant to drive with her sitting on him like that. He got his answer soon after when much like he had done the night before, Cameron started to leave a trail of kisses down the side of his jaw as she made her way to his neck; fighting back the moan that wanted to desperately escape as he felt her slowly suck on the side of his neck, at a later time he'd wonder just where she learnt to do it. With his eyes starting to drift shut as he gave into the feeling of her at his neck, he was aware of his body starting to shake at the fact that he had to drive the car and not act on what she was doing to him.

The car finally getting back to the house couldn't come quick enough for John, who was lucky he didn't drive into a building or take them off road on more than one occasion. However with them returning home meant Cameron removed herself from his lap, and shifted back over to her side of the car not before once again wiping the lipstick off of his face after which climbing out and entering the house. Watching as the door was left open for him to follow her inside, shaking his head to try and clear his thought pattern and resisting the urge to head but the steering wheel, John had the distinct feeling that what just happened was payback from his attitude in the club.

"Did the metal kill anyone?" a voice asked to the side of him, jumping not having heard anyone walked towards the car. Looking at his uncle who was leaning against the doorframe and staring at him waiting for an answer, John could only hope that how dark it was would stop anyone from telling what had happened by looking at his face.

"No, but she did attract a lot of attention dancing." He replied seeing the look of hatred form in Derek's eyes, "And you didn't give us a name or tell us what they looked like." He added climbing out of the car and walking towards the house, making sure that the side of his neck Cameron had become attached to was hidden from the older male as he could hear him walking right behind him. Stepping inside the house, John was confused by the fact that his mum and Cameron were staring at each other looking like there had just been an argument between them.

"What's this about Cameron dancing with people?" Sarah asked now turning to look at John who was idly standing by the couch, Derek right behind him. "And you had to get involved? I thought you went there to try and find whoever knows just what is buying everything up." It was only the fact that Cameron wasn't laying in a mess of metal and wires that told him she hadn't mentioned what else had happened.

"I _had_ to get involved because they thought she was going to have sex with them, what would you have done if I didn't do anything and she caused trouble when she found out what they wanted?" he asked flashing Cameron a look who was staring at the two of them keeping quiet as she did when someone was defending her. "And Derek didn't tell us who we were looking for or what they looked like." John added as he started to walk toward the stairs before turning to look at the trio standing there watching and listening to him. "I'm tired and going to bed," not needing to turn around to know exactly who the soft pitter patter of feet behind him belong to, John leant against the wall outside his room and closed his eyes; listening as a certain cyborg got closer and closer to him.

"John?" she spoke softly not knowing why he was keeping his eyes closed, "where am I to spend the night when you sleep?" she asked proving at times she didn't know how to make a question short needing to bring up all things that it involved. When to him she could have just asked where should she sleep. Tiredly opening his eyes that were filled with emotions that caught Cameron's attention as she tried to work them all out, "Last night Claire slept in your room." She added her voice going softer still, if he knew just what range of emotions she could feel, John would have guessed that she was jealous Claire had been in his room the night before. Or hurt that he had taken her there.

"You want to sleep in my room?" he asked in a way that wasn't asking at all but rather taking apart what she had said and come up with the meaning, the fact that Cameron frowned as she thought about what he said was funny to John. It was a simple yes or no thing, but it was the simple things that still got to his protector as she weighed up her response.

"I don't sleep." She finally replied usually taking the time they John, Sarah and Derek slept to patrol the house, but now that he had asked her if she wanted to sleep in his room; Cameron herself wanting to be able to sleep. To be able to do it with him there.

"Do you want to stay in my room tonight?" John asked rephrasing the question to fit the meaning more clearly to her and with him rephrasing the question came the contemplating look on her face.

"Yes. I want to stay in your room tonight," Cameron said changing her answer to meet the changed question he gave her.

Staring at the older resistance fighter, Sarah couldn't believe that after every plan they'd made and gone through to the letter he hadn't told either John or Cameron what the informant he sent them out for looked like.

"You sent him out, and didn't tell him who he was looking for?" she growled out staring at Derek wondering just how stupid one man could be. "Did you want a Terminator to find him?"

"I already know who's buying it all up," he replied sighing at the accusations, "John's been tense the past few days and I thought a little night off might do him some good. He even had the metal with him, no harm, no foul."

- - -

Having become used to seeing Cameron already up, Sarah was slightly worried when she went downstairs and was unable to find just where their Terminator was, none of the guns were missing so it didn't seem that she had gone out hunting something that could pose a threat to John; that left only one thing. She was still in the house. Turning back to check the machines bedroom to only find it empty, Sarah's eyes narrowed as she quickly made her way back to her room before pulling a pistol from under her bed out and making sure it was fully loaded. She knew that Derek was still in bed, because his snoring could be heard and she doubted Cameron was in there; shuddering she didn't need the mental image of that.

Pushing John's bedroom door open, her blood ran cold. Laying in bed and not at all looking like the weight of the world was on his shoulder was her son, the image might have been sweet if it weren't for the fact that in the bed with him and her back to Sarah was Cameron, looking like she was snuggled up to John with his arm around her.

"JOHN!" she screamed fighting back the urge to put a bullet in the back of the Terminator's head for touching her son, the loudness of her voice was enough to make him fly upwards and out of the bed looking around like he was under attack. Cameron merely rolling over like she hadn't been asleep at all, staring at Sarah wondering why she had yelled. "Get down stairs, both of you." She spat out before turning around and storming out of his room, anger in very step she took. "DEREK!" her second scream being directed towards John's uncle, Sarah had an idea that he was going to love what was about to happen between them right now. Turning to look at Cameron who was still in his bed, John couldn't remember just how she had got there from her standing at his side while he stayed awake; the fact that he at least had his underwear on told him they hadn't done anything. Or re-dressed after it.

"The metal was in his bed?" the resistance fighter said in shock having got downstairs quicker than either John or Cameron who still hadn't shown up yet, the thought of it made him sick but when he walked past his nephews bedroom neither of them had been in there. And with what Sarah had told him thoughts of what they could be doing made him want to go and tear it apart. "So do we destroy it yet?" he asked turning as the sound of people coming downstairs filled the otherwise tense air, both adults turned to watch as a defensive looking John dropped off of the last step and took a seat opposite the couch ready for anything that they were going to throw at him. He'd heard it all before. He was destined to destroy all Terminators. Cameron was a machine. She couldn't be trusted. She could kill him while he slept. The fact was that if she wanted to she could have killed him last night when they were alone.

"So," John started looking at both his mum and uncle waiting for one of them to start the fight that he had no doubt was about to follow. "Do we really need to do this?" having no desire to listen to them go on and on about how wrong this was, however the sounds of Cameron now on the stairs took all attention away from and to her. Something that was clearly a bad thing John realised watching her come into view, in what he could only guess she had taken off of Claire, Cameron walked down the stairs dressed in John's white shirt from the night before her underwear; it being long enough to hide it unless she sat down.

"Yeah, we have to do this."Sarah spat out staring at Cameron, like her gaze alone was enough to melt her back into her core components. Staring at his Terminator like she wanted him to be killed, or herself to be destroyed John didn't know what to say that would be a answer for why she had come down like that; and he wasn't exactly counting on her to say anything about it either unless one of them brought it up. "Are you insane?" she asked her son keeping her eyes on him for the time; she didn't know what would come out if she was forced to look at the metal. "You know what you have to become, what they are and you have one in your bed. Sleeping with you. She could have killed you while you slept John, like she's tried to kill you before. Did you forget that?" the statements came thick and fast for him to try and defend himself while Sarah was speaking, but her last question seemed to be the one she was going to let him talk after.

"No. I didn't forget that she's tried to kill me," he replied knowing that all eyes were on him. "But she's had chances after that and she hasn't done anything, I gave her a gun when you wanted to burn her and she could of put a bullet between my eyes and she gave me the gun back. When Charley phoned you up we were together most of the day, she could have killed me or let Cromartie do it. She had the chances and time to do it and she hasn't." Shocked at how he was defending Cameron like he had done before the explosion both Sarah and Derek looked at each other quickly wondering why John was acting this protective once again. "You said it yourself the explosion reverted her when she wanted to kill me, it wasn't a conscious decision on her part."

"Did you have sex with it?" Derek asked distaste rolling off of his tongue as he looked at Cameron and how close she was behind his nephew. "Like some sick type of blow up toy that's just more advanced," ignoring the looks he was getting off of John he was more than ready to throw out another comment at them.

"Derek shut up." Sarah spat out not liking the images that were being put into her head as he tried to goad her son into saying something that would only add fuel to the fire raging between them over this. "We've got other things to talk about right now," she said quieter before looking at John. "But don't think this is over," she warned. "The company that's buying everything you'll have the resistance use in the future is Zeriacorp, we followed a second lead last night after sending you out." Sarah lied not wanting to make it seem like they'd sent John out for nothing, despite what Derek said. "We'll try and find out what we can about them, see just why they're interested in buying these things, and if Skynet has sent something back to do it."

- - -

A/N 2: Next chapter promises to have a lot of action in it to make up for the past few that had none.


	10. Chapter 10

Staring at his mum, John could only hope that what she was suggesting sounded insane to everyone else in the room and not just him. She couldn't really be saying that they were going to go to ZeriaCorp to find out what they were doing, it just couldn't be done and there was no way that they'd even be able to get away with it; it was something as simple as stealing diamonds to fund a safe house.

"You want to walk in there and what? Tell them that you want to know what they're doing?" John said staring at Sarah like she had grown a second head, "This is a multimillion dollar company; it's not the same thing as killing someone because they won't tell you what you need." Silence filled the room as Derek and Cameron watched the exchange between Sarah and John wondering just which one of them was going to win this debate. Green eyes bore into green eyes and this time she wasn't going to back down to her sixteen year old son, he said it wasn't the same as killing someone but at the same time it wasn't the same as going and playing leader when someone you knew was captured by a Terminator.

"If Skynet has sent a Terminator back to prevent the resistance from using several strategic positions in the future, there's a chance that they have the Turk." Cameron spoke up breaking the staring contest between the two and bringing the attention back to her, and the fact that she was still only wearing John's shirt over her underwear. Staring at her with a look that screamed whose side are you on? John forced himself to keep his gaze on the top quarter of her body, and thought off the fact that he couldn't deny how good she looked wearing his top. "We could act like visitors and have a look around before moving further into the building." Her eyes stay glued to John as she spoke seeing him rolling his own in response, even if the logic behind the argument was sound he still didn't like it. It left too many things to chance.

"You go and get dressed. In your own clothes" Sarah said staring at the Terminator, her eyes narrowing on her having forgotten that she was wearing her son's shirt while he had been speaking. Turning she watched as his eyes followed Cameron back upstairs, there was no masking the attraction in his eyes; she turned away from John so she didn't have to try and name the other emotion that was there while he watched the cyborg. "Derek go and get the guns, put them in a duffle bag." She instructed, turning to see John staring at her knowing full well that there was going to be an explosion between the two of them and was merely waiting for it to take place. "Do I even want to know why she was in your bed with you?" she asked part of her dreading the answer that might come from him, if there was even a hint in her mind that they'd had sex then she'd take a hammer to Cameron's chip and no one would stop her.

"No, you don't." Was the simple answer John gave her before turning to head back upstairs himself to get washed and change into clean clothes. Sighing as she watched him leave, Sarah didn't know if this was how Skynet would win the war, would John truly be able to lead the fight against the machines if he had feelings for one of them? Two days ago she would have said that the relationship between John and Cameron was at the lowest point it had ever been, she didn't know what had changed between them but they had obviously got closer than they were when the machine first turned up; but it seemed to have happened overnight this time opposed to the months it took when Cameron revealed what she was. It worried her.

Walking straight to the bathroom, John knew that they were probably right in needing to check on ZeriaCorp, but he had a gut feeling that this was just going to be a wild goose chase ending in nothing once again. Filling the sink up with water, he never heard the sound of someone walking into the bathroom behind him; it was only when he straightened out and looked in the mirror did he see Cameron standing behind him.

"Are you angry with me for thinking this is a good move?" she asked watching his reflection rather then he back of his head. Not turning around to face her; John wasn't too sure why she thought he'd be angry with her, sure he didn't agree with what she had said, but that didn't mean he was angry.

"What?" he asked turning to look at her properly, the fact that she hadn't dressed herself yet pointed at her waiting to talk to him first. "I'm not going to want you to agree with everything I say, you've got your own opinion. It's not for me to say what that is." Folding his arms over his chest he waited and watched as Cameron stood there staring back at him, he didn't know why but this was the second time since his confession the night before that she seemed unsure and almost worried around him. An awkward silence filled the bathroom between them, something that was rare to happen even when John wasn't in the mood to be around her like he had been lately; instead of last night starting to heal a rift between them right now it looked as though it only made it larger.

"I should get dressed," Cameron finally spoke after a minute of them watching the other, "in my own clothes." She added as an afterthought almost like she was trying out how the words felt. Watching her as she walked away John couldn't stop the smile that formed on his face; sure she'd wore his shirt the night before when she stayed in his bed, but he doubted she's look as cute wearing something of his on a mission.

Finishing getting washed, John couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't the right thing for them to be doing, his stomach was doing back flips that had nothing to do with Cameron having stayed in his bed; and it didn't make any sense to him. He'd fought Terminators before, been trained by people that would be considered some of the most dangerous terrorists if they ever got the weaponry to attack a country, had squadrons of police cars chasing him; and yet this, a simple scouting mission was unnerving him. Walking into his room be froze seeing his mum sitting on his bed with what looked to be a dark blue top in her lap; did people not know what privacy was anymore?

"I know we're going to disagree with each other on a lot of things John, but you're my son and I'll always be looking out for you. Protecting you. Even if it's from yourself." Looking away as Sarah spoke not wanting this to become an argument about what happened last night which he was worried if he opened his mouth it could be. "You'll make decisions that I don't like, that _you_ won't like but it'll be something that you'll have to do. Like you did with Sarkissian." She added watching as his eyes dropped down to the floor, she didn't know what it was like for him and wasn't going to try and pretend she understood; she hadn't been forced to kill a person until John had been born, for him to do it when he was only sixteen could tear his psyche apart. Staring at his mum he hoped this wasn't her idea of a pep talk because it sucked. "I got you this to wear," she said handing the clothing out, from what he could tell it looked like a long sleeve t-shirt; the only thing that looked odd was the fact that the chest, abdomen, shoulder, upper arm and forearm joints all stood out against the fabric. It looked like a body suit for someone in a film that needed to appear bulkier.

"What?" John gasped nearly dropping it from the shock that it weighed more then he thought it should have, readjusting his grip on it he ran his fingers over the hardened and yet flexible panels that seemed to be underneath the cloth.

"Before your birthday, I had it made for you. The Kevlar's is sown under the fabric giving the protection but not letting anyone see it, I know you don't want to be babysat or have everyone think you're going to fall apart, so....." further proof that she didn't know how to act like a mum even when she was giving him a gift, John merely smiled his thanks at her because he didn't know how to be a son. Standing up from his bed, and giving him a brief hug Sarah walked towards the door before stopping and looking back at him. "And John, we're still going to have that talk about Cameron." She added before walking away and heading towards the stairs, not needing to see the look of annoyance that no doubt filled her sons face despite what he thought was something that didn't need to be mentioned again.

Dropping the t-shirt disguised body armour onto his bed and seeing that it barely bounced, merely sinking into the mattress; he closed the door behind him. If every conversation they had now was going to have the veiled threat of discussion about what she saw that morning he was going to lose it. Coming from the woman, who fell in with and had the child of someone that came from the future, she could hardly talk about what the right thing to do was; like he'd told them before if Cameron wanted to she could have killed him on any number of the occasions the two had been alone since the car bomb.

"So is this what you planned all along?" Derek asked staring at Cameron who had taken the duffle bag off of him as soon as he had returned with it. "Manage to squirm your way closer to John no matter what you've done and kill him while he slept? Connor must have thought he wiped all those pesky Skynet protocols out of your little head before sending you back." He continued now referring to the living legend that was in the future and not the nephew that he loved and wanted to protect right now. It had make him sick while he had been in Connor's camp thinking about how close the metal was to their general, but that was nothing to know he felt seeing the sixteen year old John Connor look at it. He didn't think it was a smart move sending someone that looked like Cameron back to protect him; this John was ruled by hormones that it was making him forget what she really was.

"Derek drop it," Sarah spoke walking down the stairs staring at the resistance fighter, "if we need to bring it up _I'll_ bring it up with John. Not you." Looking over her shoulder at Cameron who gave her a small look of gratitude that could hardly be seen, she mightn't trust or like her but her son did; and right now it was him that Sarah was going to put her belief in. Not Derek who was clearly filled with bitterness against everything metal because of living in the hell that followed Judgement day.

"So are we going?" John's voice asked ringing around the silent living room, tilting her head to the side was she watched him walk down the stairs; Cameron's eyes picked up on the top he was wearing even if it was impossible to spot at first. She scanned it trying to find any type of weakness that could be exploited in the Kevlar armour that would lead to John being killed. Apart from a straight shot that would puncture the joints that held the armour together, or a Terminator punching straight through it which would rupture the armour and bend it backwards into him, it was probably the safest thing he could wear. Even if he wouldn't admit it, her intense zoned out staring worried John slightly, it had seen it a few times but never directed at him.

Not wasting any time in waiting for an answer, John took the bag from Cameron's hand and quickly wrapped it over his shoulder as he walked out the door. Not letting him get too far ahead the Terminator was quick to tail him out the door with both Sarah and Derek following, the latter still glaring at the back of the machines head. Climbing into the back of the 4 x4 aware that they would have looked off to anyone that was watching, John's attention was snapped to Cameron; unlike where she had sat on her own side of the car, she shuffled along until her body was leaning against his.

"What are we going to do if Skynet did send them?" John asked once his uncle started to drive the car, "We can't just kill them in broad daylight in front of everybody, and we won't be able to get back in there after today" he added looking forward waiting for someone to give him an answer, however it seemed and none of them had thought ahead apart from getting to ZeriaCorp and entering the building.

"If there is a connection to Skynet within the building, I'll be able to scan their face and locate them at a later date." Cameron said when neither Sarah nor Derek opted to give an idea to John; it struck her as odd that they wouldn't say anything when it was them who came up with this plan.

"So the metal can be useful after all." Derek muttered but not quietly enough for his comment to go unheard, rolling her eyes in the passenger seat Sarah looked back at her son who was glaring at Derek. Yes his protectiveness of Cameron was coming back full force due to the fact that for whatever reason he'd lost his anger at her for trying to kill him, or that was what Sarah hoped had fuelled his anger and not the fact that she had said she loved him trying to force him to let her go.

Turning to look at his bodyguard and seeing that she didn't appear bothered by the older man's comment, John couldn't stop himself from reaching over slightly and taking her hand in his squeezing it gently; he didn't understand why but he was no longer uncomfortable around her, he wouldn't have thought that his confession to both her and himself would have made such a difference. Looking down at his hand that was covering her own, Cameron was for once aware of the size difference; it made it seem like John was meant to protect her and not the other way around. Turning her hand over so it was no longer sitting under John's but fitting in it, she curled her fingers around his longer slightly thicker and callused ones before looking up at him and seeing the small smile forming at the corner on his face as he kept his gaze forwards.

Climbing out of the 4 x 4 and looking up at the large glass and concrete building, the gut feeling that John had early saying that this was a bad idea came back full force; he didn't know what it was or why but there was also the distinct feeling that someone was watching him. Readjusting the bag on his shoulder, with at quick look at the other three beside him and schooling his features to mask any of the worry that was there, John walked through the large double glass doors hoping beyond hope that nothing went wrong when he stepped inside.

"Ok, now all we need to do is gain access to the higher levels." Derek whispered leaning over his nephew, placing a hand on his shoulder and guiding him to a far wall, both Sarah and Cameron moving to the opposite wall making sure that they'd be able to keep eye contact at all times. Clearly more on edge then the others, John was determined to not look around like a kid robbing a sweet shop, there was no reason to attract more attention to them then they had already received from people walking around. "We need to look like we're just looking around, like normal people." He continued staying close to his nephew as they walked down one side of the building, his mum and Terminator doing the same on the other.

"Then you're doing a crap job of acting normal." John whispered taking a quick look at the people that went by them before turning away again, if Skynet had sent Terminators here he wasn't going to give them a good view of his face. "Go bug my mum," he added before shaking Derek's hand off of him and making his way over to the other side of the building towards the two females watching him, "We're sticking out." He spoke once again in a whisper before taking Cameron's hand in his, "we need to look normal and we're hardly doing that, go with Derek." He finished before walking away with Cameron. Turning to look at the resistance fighter, who was glaring at John and Cameron walking away, Sarah only sighed before making her way over to him discreetly unlike her son who made it clear who he was heading for when he walked away from his uncle.

"He might have had a point you know," she said now leaning against the wall as the sea of people swallowed her son and his protector, "I mean a sixteen year old boy and what looks to be a sixteen year old girl would hardly be in a place like this with their parents. They'd probably be looking for a place to have sex if they were normal." Sarah continued before stopping and turning in the direction that they had just gone in. No, she thought to herself; John wouldn't try and have sex with Cameron or do anything like that. It just was too crazy even for them.

Slowing his pace down once he got a few feet away from his mum and Derek, John gave Cameron a small tug which brought her to his side rather than walking slightly behind him. Having an idea to what he was doing, she leant against him slightly leaving her head resting on his shoulder as they walked through the throngs of people that stopped anyone from seeing where they went. Stopping outside a stairwell and turning to look over his shoulder, John could only grin slightly at the sight of his mum and Derek casually as they could making their way down to get a better look at them while staying on the opposite side, nudging his companion through he caught a security guard staring at them as he followed her.

"John I don't understand," Cameron said tilting her head to the side, this was not being discreet or going along with their plan to find out why someone from the company was buying up the things that they were. "We need to continue with the mission," she added as John let the duffle bag slide off of his shoulder and nudged it out of side behind the door before positioning her against the wall, a grin on his face.

"I'm going to need you to trust me, and follow my lead." He told her, the grin on his face growing slightly at her confused look. Thinking that he was talking about a threat she started to load up her combat subroutines ready to fight off anything that came through the doors behind them, watching as John turned to look back towards the door for a split second before turning his attention back to her, Cameron had no time to act. Suddenly he was kissing her softly as one of his hands travelled to the back of her head, running through her hair as he had done the night before. Having originally been taken off guard by his affection, she lazily wrapped her arms around him as she started to return the more innocent kiss between the two, slightly aware that this was quickly becoming one of the few things she liked to do. The sound of the door starting to open was enough to bring the Terminator out of her daze and back to the idea of a very real threat of John's life, but her charge was one step ahead of her having already known what she would have tried to do. Deepening the kiss as he ran his tongue over her own, it didn't take long before by her very nature she tried to gain some type of control over the kiss, but this John was full of surprises today; ones that she didn't think he had.

The feeling of his warmer hand travelling up her stomach left a trail of goose-bumps on her skin; minutely she was aware that this brought a small smile to his face as she once again tried to take control on the kiss. A soft gasp escaped her, when she felt his hand cup her breast squeezing slightly, before his grip grew firmer enjoying the sound that she made. John's actions left Cameron being able to do little but moan into his mouth, having no experience of this sort before. Skynet had programmed her to know what went where and the motions of both foreplay and sexual intercourse as it had with all infiltrators but she had never had a need for it. Wrapping her leg around John's thigh and pulling his body closer to hers, Cameron slowly started to grind into him, once again feeling pleasure from the movements; as well as the fact that he clearly enjoyed it from the groan that came out of him.

"Ahem," a voice coughed from behind John from the doorway broke through them going any further. Pulling his mouth away from Cameron's, his heart racing at what felt like a hundred miles a minute, John allowed his head to hang by her neck; his deep breaths flowing over her neck before he slowly turned around to look at the interruption. It was the security guard that he had seen watching them before walking in here, how quickly a last second distraction turned into something more. "This is off limits to civilians." He spoke, staring at the thirty something year old guard and not liking the way he was staring at what John only assumed was Cameron, could only hope was Cameron; he turned back to look at the female that he had pinned to the wall. His hand still under her shirt cupping her breast, and her leg still wrapped around his thigh, smiling at her he saw that her eyes had a blue tinge to them making it look like they were sparkling. "I'll give you a few more minutes," he laughed once John pulled away from Cameron; however the undisguised lustful look that he gave Cameron made John want to shred the guard's eyes out.

"We should really get back to the mission," he spoke this time wrapping his arms around her stomach and pulling her closer to him, the fact that in these situations he was in complete control left him with a type of rush he didn't want to give up. "I mean," he continued before kissing her lightly, "that's why," a second kiss followed, everything he'd been told about Terminator's not being able to feel had been tossed out the window within the past few days; especially with Cameron's eyes fluttering every time he gently kissed her. "We're here." He finished before kissing her once again, the sound of someone banging on the door stopped it from growing too intense this time and John pulled away with a sigh. "The staircase will take you upstairs," he said before turning to the doorway, "I'll wait outside the door for you. Ten minutes." He added as he watched her run up the stairs.

Opening the door just enough to see the guard standing on the other side waiting for them to come back out, John as best he could looked around to make sure no one else was there. Reaching out as quietly as he could, he wrapped one arm around the guard's neck choking him and dragged him backwards, using his other to gain leverage and jerk the older man's head back to increase the pressure that he was applying. Moving further and further back towards the small gap behind the staircase, John was bombarded with flashes of Sarkissian flailing around in his grip trying to get free; moving behind the staircase and feeling the guard's struggling becoming weaker and weaker, John let go of him and watched as he dropped to the floor. Fear filled his body as he stared at the red faced man laying there, dropping to his knees John searched for the vein on his neck and could only let out a sigh of relief as he felt the pulse was still there.

Knowing that there was no clear indication as to when the guard would get back up, John reached to the side of the man's neck and grabbed the muscle having been taught about how to disable people with nerve holds. There was a slight spasm of his body before he once again fell limp.

Walking out of the stair well with the duffle bag in hand, it didn't take long for him to spot Derek and his mum standing against the wall opposite the stair well looking around for either he or Cameron to appear once again. Not taking long to catch their eye, he held up both hands to indicate ten minutes before turning away as quickly as he had done it.

- - -

Having come to a stop on the fifth floor, Cameron was walking around the third and largest office that she had found so far. However her search for anything that would indicate why the company would want to buy up the things it had been had been delayed by the surges of pleasure flowing through her, as there seemed to be an imprint of John's touch on her body. It wasn't an unwelcome feeling, but one that she found would be more suited if he were there causing it, the sound of the door opening caught her attention; and she quickly moved out of view as she waited to see who had come in the room.

Watching the red haired woman walk around, Cameron was waiting for the right moment to leave the office and join back up with John and leave. The moment came when the other woman walked through a set of glass doors that the brunette couldn't get to open for her, moving with speed that had once resulted in her being told she walked like a horse by Derek; Cameron was nearly at the door.

"What are you doing here?" a voice asked from the side of her sounding slightly dead, her attention snapping in that direction Cameron watched as the red haired woman started to make her war towards her, her movements coming off slightly blocky.

**# perform threat analysis on subject**

**: Unit is a T-1001. Threat level extreme. **

**: Probability of survival in direct conflict low. **

"I must of taken a wrong turn." Cameron said laughing slightly as she brought back the program she used to try and get close to John, if she could trick the Terminator in front of her into thinking she was human there was a higher chance of her getting out of this alive. Turning away once again to try and get to the door and out of the office, she felt a solid hand grab hold of the back of her hair, before she could do anything she was thrown across the room; slamming into a table that shattered against the force.

"No, I don't think you'll be going anywhere." Catherine said walking towards Cameron, who was climbing back up to her feet. The brunette Terminator stared at her opponent with a slight sense of trepidation, unlike fighting Cromartie and the other T-888's were she had roughly a sixty five percent chance of survival here she had less than twenty. Ignoring that and grateful for the fact that there wasn't a large size different between the two of them, she let her fist right towards her targets face hoping that she'd be able to cause enough damage to get away from it. Watching as the T-1001's head snapped to the side, Cameron grabbed hold of its white jacket and attempted to throw it across the room and away from the doorway, at the last second though her grip was reversed and she found herself being tossed aside like a bug once again.

"Ahhh, you're the T0K model that Skynet brands a traitor in the future once you join John Connor's crusade." Catherine said walking over and delivering a stiff kick to Cameron who had been on her hands and knees watching as the other machine fell to the floor once again. "How delightful, I'll be able to remove his bodyguard from the equation and then he'll fall in this time." She added with a smile of her face, as she let Cameron get back to her feet. Before she could try to defend herself, she could only watch as the T-1001's finger elongated and turned silver as it formed into what looked like an overly large yet thin knife.

With her chip having become damaged after the explosion and she had started to form emotions, with that came the ability to feel pain on a lower level. So when the silver knife finger was forced through her stomach she could do nothing but gasp as the sensation of the skin tearing away caused her body to freeze up.

"You were meant to be Skynet's prize and yet you didn't kill him when you had the chance, why is that?" Catherine asked pulling her finger out of Cameron's stomach and using it to tear across the skin on her cheek. "It makes no difference in the end, I'm just curious." Catching the smaller Terminator's hand in her own before it slammed into her chest, Catherine once again allowed the sadistic smile to form on her face; it being the only one that she developed so far. "What no answer? What a pity." She sighed before tossing Cameron through the double glass doors she had come through, knowing that shards undoubtedly stuck in the T0K's skin sheath.

_'John I need your help.'_ Her mind screamed out as she felt the broken glass tear into her back, this was only the third time that her existence had been in true danger of being wiped out the other two were; when the resistance first found out what she was after she confessed to John in the future and when she was trapped between the two trucks. The sound of feet crunching the glass near her forced her to look up, all that Cameron saw coming at her was a foot heeled foot that slammed into her face sending her spiralling backwards as she bounced off of the floor. Within seconds she was being dragged up off the floor by her throat, staring at the T-1001 as its finger grew once again she knew that this was how she was going to die. "I'll never help you get to John Connor." Cameron said trying to fight out of the grip.

"I don't need you to help me, I'll find him in due time." Catherine replied her finger getting closer to Cameron's eye with each second that passed. _'JOHN! HELP ME!' _her mind screamed once again as she truly felt fear at what the end of her existence would mean.

Almost as if he could hear her cries for his help, the door to the office burst open and walking through like the machines that he was destined to fight John appeared holding a shotgun in his hand. Turning in the direction that the two machines were in, he was quicker on the trigger then Catherine was to either drive her finger through Cameron's eye and destroy her chip or try to get out of the way. The first slug through the hand that had turned into the deadly weapon, splattering it in mid-air. Any surprise that filled John at seeing the tell tale signs of the mimetic poly alloy as he watched the hand slowly repair itself were short lived as a second shot thought the arm that was holding Cameron up; as did a third and then fourth, causing the T-1001 to drop her.

"Come with me if you want to live." John said watching as his protector scrabbled over to him; due to the fact Catherine was unable to grab her once again with her hands still in a state of repair. Wasting no time in firing the shotgun as Cameron who was stood to his side was reloading it at a quicker pace. John felt a sick relish fill his body as his slug found its mark preventing her from getting any closer; he discovered at the age of twelve that at close range the T-1001 model couldn't heal and move if it were under constant attack. Moving forwards as the rounds were forcing Catherine back, he aimed at both of her knee's before moving up to her stomach, shoulder and then head. Watching as one of Skynet's most lethal killers fell back onto a table housing a number of computers, John let his final shot travel through one of them smiling bitterly as it started to spark and smoke before exploding; causing a chain reaction around it. "Time to go." He muttered before grabbing hold of Cameron and rushing out of the door, knowing full well that the Terminator wasn't dead; he'd seen that model get up from more then that before.

- - -

Storming back into the house, Derek was livid. He couldn't believe it when he watched as his nephew unzipped the bag and ran back through the doorway to the staircase with a shotgun, he had known exactly what he had been doing and it had come as no surprise to him when he re-emerged fives minutes later with a beaten Cameron.

"John going back to save you almost got him killed," he spat out at her, aware that Sarah was giving her son the same conversation outside the house. "In the future Connor saw something in you that made him keep you around and now this John sees the same thing. They're both blind to the fact that all you are is a metal bitch, and all you do is kill and destroy life. You carry death with you." He ranted glaring at her partially destroyed face wishing he'd be able to finish the job the other Terminator started on her. "Whether he disagrees with me or not I'm going to melt you down and throw you away, you're worthless to all of us." Derek finished, his face bright red as Cameron didn't seem fazed by his outburst.

"John loves me," she replied stating it as fact, something that she knew it was. The reaction she got wasn't one that she expected, quicker then she thought he could; Derek back handed her with enough force to make her head turn slightly. Looking back at him, a look of shock forming on her face; no matter what was said between the two either here or in the future neither of them had ever struck the other for fear of what John would do to them. Apparently Derek was no longer afraid.

"Get out of my sight," he growled saliva dripping from his mouth in rage, and for the first time Cameron listened to him walking upstairs and to her room. "JOHN!" he roared at the door watching as his nephew and the boy's mother came in looking like they were preparing for a fight. "Tell me what that _thing_ said isn't true." He spoke his body now shaking in anger, there was no way he was going to let the belief that his brother died for be lost because this sixteen year old child couldn't see the difference between what the metal was and what she pretended to be. "Tell me that metal whore was lying when she said you love her," he continued hearing Sarah drop the gun that she had taken from the duffle bag and bring back into the house. "Because if she wasn't John, then I swear to fucking god."

"WHAT?" his nephew snapped at him suddenly, "Just what are _you going to do?_" he asked sarcasm dripping off his every word hiding the threat that was there, as he dared him to finish his sentence. But it was just like that, all the righteousness was snapped from Derek, every threat and put down he could throw out against Cameron was torn from his head having never expected his nephew to get into his face the way he was. "That's just what I thought, nothing. That's what you're going to do." Barging past his uncle as he made his way upstairs to see Cameron, waves of anger seemed to flow off of him and bounce around the house.

"JOHN!" Derek screamed after him. "Get back here." Ignoring his uncle as he made his way to Cameron's room, he watched as his hand shook in anger as he reached out to grab hold of the door handle. He knew that he needed to calm himself down knowing that it wouldn't be fair to take him anger out on Cameron who was showing signs of slowly learning emotions.

"Hey." John whispered looking at her sitting on the bed that she didn't use, as she turned from staring intently at the wall opposite her to watching him come closer. "Are you ok?" he asked not caring about the fact that she could turn around and act like a machine with the reply that she didn't feel hurt about what was said, because she didn't feel anything. He knew better. Cupping the side of her face that wasn't cut up, John made Cameron look at her as even though he knew if she wanted to he wouldn't have a chance of making her move. "Derek's a prick, you know that." He joked trying to get a smile out of her.

"Does it made you sick?" She asked finally speaking, not knowing what she was talking about he merely cocked his head to the side slightly as she usually did. Seeing the confusion in his eyes, Cameron slowly led his hand across to the other side of her face, sighing slightly as his fingers travelled over her mouth before resting on her cuts that revealed the coltan frame underneath.

"No." John replied stroking her cheek slightly with his thumb, on occasion it dropped into one of the tears in her skin, but he merely kept it moving in the direction it had been. Sure it felt odd feeling the coldness of the metal before his thumb lifted back up onto her skin. "It doesn't make me sick," he added as she pressed the side of her face into his palm.

"You love me?" she asked cautiously lifting her hand and running it across his face before she started to play with his shortened hair feeling the prickling sensation that it created. A simple nod was her reply from the question causing a smile to form on her face. Leaning forward John pressed a soft kiss against her mouth, before slowly pushing her body back onto her bed, going against the other kisses that the two of them had experienced with each other; this wasn't turning out to be an event which would leave John in the need of a cold shower. Showing that she understood the difference, Cameron started to kiss him back as softly and slowly as he was kissing her, even as the kiss deepened and their tongues found each other once again, even with John slowly climbing on top of Cameron; it didn't have the same lack of control that the one they shared earlier had. This kiss simply re-enforced the point that John did in fact love her, and he always would.


	11. Chapter 11

Feeling the added weight of John's shirt as he positioned his body so he was covering her, might have been something that would have casued discomfort to a human girl when added to his body mass already, but not for the first time Cameron was more focused on the pleasure that was being transmitted around her body. Trying to match the fervour that he was putting into the kiss, she tried to make sure she was aware of where John's hands were at all times, the fact that he'd been able to surprise her when they were caught earlier had taught Cameron an important lesson. John Connor was far more conniving then she gave him credit for at this age.

The sensation of warm hands skimming her stomach was enough for her to realize where his hands had moved to without her knowing, after trailing down her back from her hair, even if she was a advanced cyborg from the future, it was hard for Cameron to keep track of everything that was happening around her when John was kissing her the way with the amount of passion he was. Cold air hitting her body signalled her top slowly being pushed further up her body as he started to take it off her. Breaking the kiss briefly, John watched as Cameron moved her arms alongside her head if he had been thinking with his head he would have wondered if she was doing it because she wanted to or she had seen women do it on t.v. Looking down at her body that was now only covered by a bra and a pair of jeans tight enough that it'd drive any male who saw insane if she had to pick something up off the floor, he was pretty sure if you asked him his name, John wouldn't be able to tell you.

Laying there as he stared at her, Cameron wasn't sure why John wasn't doing anything. Deciding that it would be up to her to make the next move, she reached to the body of the shirt that he was wearing making sure she had hold of both it and his t-shirt underneath. Without the slowness that John had used as more of her body had been shown to him, she couldn't help the slightly smug smile that formed on her face; when his tops dropped to the floor with a louder noise then hers did due to what was in one of them. Pleased that her actions had the desired effect as John snapped out of his trance, as he bent back down to kiss her again, the heat from his body vaguely aware that it was hotter than it should have been seemed to scorch her cooler one. It was for that reason as Cameron battled for control of the kiss, something John seemed adamant to hold onto, she was confused when his hand trailing across her stomach sent goose-bumps over her flesh casuing her to shiver. Grinning through the kiss, more than pleased that she had the same reaction from his lighter touch as John's fingers started to gently travel over her body, it definitely went against the idea that she was doing this because she was copying other people.

It was only when his hand stopped just under her chest did Cameron break the kiss this time, she didn't understand why his touch was causing the reaction of her it was, but she hadn't wanted him to stop when he did. Reaching around her back and leaning forward as much as she could without knocking John down; she unhooked her bra, before tossing it to the floor with the other clothes that had been taken off. Browns eyes widened slightly as John once again stared at her body; there was something in his expression that she hadn't seen before, and that worried her.

"Does something look wrong?" she asked worry tingeing her voice, Skynet had created her to appeal to males when she infiltrated the resistance, but from the way he was just staring at her the only conclusion was that there was something that didn't look right. Apart from when she scanned people to see if they were a threat she wasn't sure on how women looked, or if this John preferred a certain type.

"You're beautiful," Green eyes snapped back up to Cameron's face, seeing the panic that had started to form in her eyes, he hadn't realized his silence had made her think he thought there was something wrong with her body. "You're beautiful." He whispered this time against her mouth.

- - -

"You're going to let him be upstairs with _it_?" Derek growled out staring at Sarah who hadn't moved from her position at the door since she and John walked in and the argument that followed. Unlike the resistance fighter she hadn't found any anger yet and was still in a state of shock that according to the older male, Cameron claimed her son loved her; the fact that her son hadn't denied the claims and merely let his own anger show before leaving the living room did nothing to stop her mind from running into overdrive with what could happen. "It's sick and not natural; he's in love with a metal. She's just waiting for the chance to tear his throat out, and he's too busy staring at it to see that. The metal has to go." The same words repeated from before the car explosion, only this time Sarah wasn't too sure if she could agree with her earlier claims that she'd trust her sons judgement when it came to Cameron. If only John had said that he didn't love her, then Derek wouldn't be ready to rush out to get the thermite and throw it over their Terminator bodyguard when she was least expecting it.

"We don't know she was telling the truth Derek," picking up the gun that had fallen to the floor, Sarah placed it on the table in front of the couch before her eyes slowly followed her son's uncle's as he stared at the ceiling. She knew that John wouldn't do anything stupid, and could only hope that Cameron's words had been a ploy to piss the older man off, something that she clearly had done. "John won't forget what she is," she added moving towards the kitchen, the discussion was over for now at least; she still had to talk to him about the machine sleeping in his room with him. "I hope he doesn't forget." She whispered the end sentence, there was no mistaking the closeness that had re-formed between John and Cameron, it had filled her mind when she Sarah the metal posing girl wearing his shirt.

"He needs to get his head in the game," Derek followed her into the kitchen knowing this was his best chance to drive his point home, even though part of him wanted to rush upstairs and find out what they were doing up there. He wanted to see if his suspicions were right, even if they would make him sick if they were. "Running around with Riley, Claire and telling the metal that he loves it, he won't fight a war never mind win it if he keeps this up." Pacing around the kitchen as he spoke, up until a few days ago he and John had been closer but that was when he seemed ready to tear the head off of Cameron himself and wanted nothing to do with her. Something had changed things between them after they saved Claire from the T-888 and had told her parents they'd be staying with them for a few days. "We should never have let him turn her back on in that car."

"Were you really going to force him to do what you said when he was pointing a gun at you?" Sarah asked keeping her back to him, no matter how much she knew John wouldn't have shot her she didn't have the same faith that he wouldn't have taken a shot at his uncle if he stopped him putting Cameron's chip back in that night. "We've been safer because she's reactivated." Thoughts flashed through her head of both the mission to save the power plant with Cameron fighting the T-888 that had turned up even if she had lost that battle, and then her bringing John home after he was shot, the chances of him not collapsing or being found by someone they needed to avoid that day were too high if he had been on his own.

Not having anything to say to that comment that wouldn't start him on a rant about how machines killed people without thinking, he walked past her and towards the back door, trying to fight down the urge to travel upstairs and empty his clip into Cameron's head. His anger hanging over his head like a dark cloud, he made his way over to the shed which had quickly become his solace from the house when he was ready to burn the Terminator that lived with them. It had seemed at one point Sarah was on his side with what they had to do with Cameron and how quickly they had to get rid of her; but now she had once again been swayed by John's unnatural need to form bonds with machines. Staring at the tin of thermite that was resting against a rifle that had been left out, and turning it over in his hands, Derek placed it in a drawer before looking back up at the house.

Standing in the kitchen, Sarah was going over the latest conversation with Derek about getting rid of Cameron; she'd been able to toss his previous ideas out, she knew how much they needed her to protect them or rather John from the T-888's that had come back. But she couldn't deny that she'd been too different after the explosion, the way Sarah had seen her watching John when he walked past her; the undisguised hatred that had formed in her eyes when Riley had shown up, the fact that she was showing more human traits with each day that past. After having seen her dance before, Sarah had been worried about machines understanding beauty and art, something that had only increased when Cameron had said dance was the hidden language of the soul; there was the unmistaken fear in her heart that the Terminator which her son had sent back to protect him was going to be the reason Skynet was created. If they managed to stop it from destroying the world what would that mean for them? Would Cameron simply vanish? Having never been created to infiltrate the resistance with the mission to kill her son only to fail and be reprogrammed. Would John? He'd have no need to send Kyle Reese back to save her if there was no Judgement day. Or had they changed the timeline enough to establish both of them existing enough to be around whether they stopped Judgement day?

Eyes' flicking to the foot of the staircase, Sarah was fighting the urge to go and make John promise her Cameron had been lying to Derek when she claimed he loved her, promise that he saw her as a machine and nothing more than that. The problem with that was she doubted whether it would be the truth if he did tell her what she wanted to hear from him, shaking her thoughts away that he was in love with a machine. Something that was created by the same soulless thing that took his father's life from him, even when the Terminator turned up that John had called Uncle Bob and another that wanted to kill him; he had for reasons only known to him refused to see both machines as killing monsters that at one point wanted the same thing.

"We have a problem," John's voice rang out in the living room, and even though she had been staring at the stairs her thoughts had dragged her away from seeing both him and Cameron walking down; both of them looking like they'd been in the shower. "There's a T-1000 running ZeriaCorp," moving further into the room to make sure his mum was paying attention to him, he didn't know why she was staring at him like he'd just got back from an around the world trip.

"A T-1001." Cameron corrected from behind him, turning around with a slightly raised eyebrow John shook his head before turning away once again, this wasn't the time to try and be technical; they'd faced a shape shifting Terminator before the fact that this one was posing as a woman didn't matter too much in the long run. "We need to form a plan to destroy it as quickly as possible." Moving to stand alongside John as she spoke to Sarah this time, she was confused as to why the older woman's eyes were glued to her son. Unless you were angry with someone it was customary to look at them when they spoke to you.

"And now she's seen you," Sarah replied staring at John still, she didn't know what it was but there was something different about him, the way he was standing, the aura he projected. It wasn't the same deadly one that came off of him when they tried to burn Cameron, this one had less of a menace about it but it still confused her. _Indestructible almost_. "We don't have the fire power to stop a T-1000," turning her head for a split second to try and think of what they could do she caught Cameron opening her mouth. "T-1001." She corrected not wanting the machine to think that they had a problem hearing her, it had happened once before and she had gone around talking louder to them before John had told her they could hear just fine. She had seen the aura that John was giving off, projected once before on someone else. _Kyle Reese_, if she was younger she might have blushed at the thoughts of why he had given that aura off, why he had looked nearly invincible. Dull green eyes snapped to his sharper ones, taking in the way Cameron was standing close to him, _too close to just be his protector_ her mind whispered traitorously knowing there was no threat to him inside the house.

"The old house," John spoke quickly, almost as if he could see the wheels turning and knew that his mum was about to say something he didn't want to hear from her. Not now, not ever. "It could still have some stuff in the garage that wasn't destroyed," turning to look at Cameron hoping that it wasn't written all over his face. "You were collecting things to make a second plasma rifle." He continued hoping that she'd agree with him on this, anything to postpone the conversation he feared was going to come up if he stayed there.

"There's a 23.56 percent chance that all materials were destroyed when the house blew up." Too naive to understand just why he wanted to get out of the house when he did, not taking the time to look back at his mum, John ignored what Cameron had just said and started walking towards the front door keeping his back to both females in the living room. Turning to stare at Sarah with her head tilted to the side not knowing why John had rushed out of the house the way he did, Cameron was expecting the older woman to explain it to her; instead she was met with a glare that looked like it was trying to melt the flesh covering her coltan frame. "I shall accompany John to gather the materials; there could be the danger of police activity still in the area, or more of Sarkissian's men." Turning on her heel to leave the house and make sure John was kept safe now more than ever, Cameron was also ready to ask him why he refused to stay in the same room as his mum. She hadn't noted any tension between the two of them as of late, so it made no sense for him to make his hasty escape.

"I'm sure you like spending time alone with John," Sarah muttered not thinking the cyborg had heard her, her son's hasty retreat out of the house did nothing to calm her thoughts of just what they had done upstairs now that she had seen him and the shine in his eyes.

"Yes, me and John enjoy spending time alone together." The door was closed behind Cameron before Sarah had time to realize just what could be taken from her words and in what line of thought that pushed her mind. When the two of them got back she was going to have a little talk with her son about the time he's spending with Cameron, and how he was going to cut it down from what it was to nearly none, only if she or Derek was around would he be near her. Yes she knew she was sounding like a crazy person, but she was going to do everything to make sure there was no way he fell in love with her; and if he had just done what she thought he had then she was going to castrate him herself.

Keeping his eyes glued to the road and perfectly aware of what happened last him he and Cameron were alone in the car; John knew that she was staring at him. He didn't need to see her from the corner of his eye, or her reflection in the windshield he could sense it. At times he wouldn't have cared, but right now it was creeping him out.

"What?" taking a split second to turn to her, and sure enough two big brown eyes were staring back at him, the pout on her face that was normally there seemed to be more pronounced right now. At times he had thought it annoyingly adorable that it seemed to always be there, but right now he was sure that she was doing it to tease him. Since when did she know how to tease him? He wasn't sure.

"I don't understand why you rushed out of the house," Cameron finally replied, watching as he turned away from her to continue their journey to the destroyed house, having thought Sarah was going to give her an answer and was merely glared at, she was more than ready to sit there and wait for John to reply. If he had thought her watching him before had been creepy, then Cameron turning half of her body to stare at him while he drove was enough for him to take the car into a ditch. Once again he was planning on finding a away to get to the future and killing himself for sending someone that looked like her back, especially now; just how was he meant to have stayed away from her. The fact that he failed with flying colours proved that. "I don't understand why you rushed out of the house." she repeated louder this time thinking John had come down with the bizarre form of deafness she had observed in humans before which resulted in them having to be told the same things more than once.

"I heard you the first time," rolling his eyes slightly with a hint of a smile on his face, he knew that there was a mask of confusion on Cameron's face as she tried to understand why he had ignored her if he heard the question when she first asked it. "And trust me; you didn't want to stay in the house. I think she knows." Knowing that his half answer wouldn't satisfy her once she understood he hadn't given her one John waited for the next question to come out of her mouth, but decided if he wanted to get this done without going crazy it was best to cut her off. "She might know what we did." He elaborated for her as best as he could at the time, he was sixteen and there was no way that she was going to mention his mum and sex in the same sentence if he had anything to say about it. That was all types of wrong he didn't want to begin to think about.

"She knows what we did." Cameron repeated before turning to look out the windshield for a brief second before turning back to John, she needed to be clear that she understood Sarah knew what they did. "That we partook in Sex, lovemaking, hiding the sausage, fucking, reproducing, mating, giving into carnal desires, acting in the flesh..... "

"Cameron!" he shouted making her stop, he didn't know where she had picked up on some of them and could only be grateful that there was no one else in the car with them otherwise there would be a dead body being dropped off and him losing the very thing that made him a male. A small part of his brain whispered that he liked hearing her say what they had done in her room, if he tried hard enough he could almost picture a tiny devil sitting on his shoulder grinning manically and asking when they were going to do it again. Taking the chance to look at her from the corner of his eye he saw that she was still watching him, thinking he was going to say something else. "Look, if you don't want them to try and turn you into scrap metal it's best if we don't tell either my mum or Derek what happened ok?" he asked her, "We're nearly there anyway." He added softer seeing the look in her eyes, he knew the chances are she wouldn't understand why either Sarah or Derek would want to know what they did, but the fact that it would be a threat to her if they did know would help with her keeping it between them. The way it should be.

Looking at the remains of the house that symbolised her second failure to kill John Connor, Cameron wasn't too sure what would have happened if she had succeeded. Killing him in the future would have meant that Skynet won the war in that time, and the machines would have gone on to kill every last member of the resistance there was, but if she had killed him in this time what would her mission have been? Would she merely remain immobile until her power source ran out? Save John Connor or kill John Connor. That was all she had known at one point, but now she knew he loved her.

"Anyone in there?" he asked as a sole finger trailed up the back of her tank top before skimming across the skin where it stopped under her hair, shivering against her will and once again as the result of his touching her; Cameron caught the smirk that was forming on John's face as he walked past. After they had showered where she had offered to join him only for him to smile slightly and tell her he probably wouldn't get washed if she did, she had mentioned her reaction to his touch as well as the times it had happened, instead of telling her why like she had wanted him to; John merely smirked at her before winking and walking away. "Come on," he called back at her having watched as she stood there staring at nothing. His voice bringing her back from her trying to understand why she reacted the way she did to his touch and why he wouldn't tell her.

Making sure that there was no one watching them John and Cameron snuck into the garage before placing a small piece of wood under the door before closing it, to allow them to get back out with the cyborg ripping the door apart. It was probably luck that it was the only part of the house not affected by the fire, or explosion that had taken place months ago.

- - -

Staring at the mess of broken and mangled computers that littered the small side room of her office, as well as being pleased that she hadn't installed any security camera's in here Catherine Weaver watched as a team of security guards and police officers walked round trying to figure out what had happened to cause the amount of damage that was there. She had told them that she hadn't been in there when the attack had happened, but called for them as soon as she walked in and saw the destruction.

It had annoyed her as much as a machine could be annoyed that she hadn't been able to dispose of Connor's body guard when she had the chance, the T0K model wasn't designed for going toe to toe with other Terminator's as it had proven its inadequacy when she had fought it. After the defection of the T0K-715 Skynet stopped using them, it couldn't afford to keep having its own creations fall into John's hands as he showed time and time again the ease that he reprogrammed them. The one thing she hadn't planned on was John himself rushing in and saving her, in the future it had been unheard of for him to save a machine while it was engaged in a battle; he had a small army of them to protect them. This one clearly meant something to him, at least in this time if he were so willing to risk his life for it.

"I don't think this was an attempted theft Ms Weaver," one of the police officers said walking over to the worried company president. "From the damage done, I'd say whoever came in here just wanted to try and cost you money with buying replacements for the equipment and furniture that's ruined." Watching as pieces of shattered glass were trodden into the floor even more then they had been, the T-1001 turned to look at the officer putting the right amount of confusion into her eyes and voice.

"Why would someone want to do such a thing?" looking at the mess that had been created once again. "All we are is a computer company, if we had been making weapons to attack other countries then I'd understand an activist group taking action."

"If you can think of anyone that would have anything against you let us know." Placing the card on the only piece of furniture that hadn't been destroyed during the fight, the officers turned to leave never noticing the look of ersatz confusion turn into an emotionless mask. This had only served to reinforce the idea that the T-1001 had that humans were useless and wiping them out was the best command Skynet had, she was unable to see what made them so special. They were fragile and weak, often cut down by diseases created by bacteria that their bodies couldn't fight off, just how they managed to survive so long before Judgement day was confusing, never mind being able to rally behind John Connor after it. She had understood it was nearly enviable that as a race humans were destined to destroy each other, Skynet was merely giving them a helping hand.

Walking out of her office and towards the lift that would take her down to the basement, and what she was sure both the T0K and John had been looking for. The steely look she gave anyone that tried to get in with her was more than enough to scare each and every worker away from her, the people that had access to the basement would already be there; and if anyone had ignored her look to keep them away she'd be looking for a replacement employee in the morning. Stepping out of the lift and watching as the automatic lights turned on when they sensed someone in the corridor, something that she had to put in for the lack of perfect night vision they had, Catherine started to walk down the single passage away, if they hadn't had any more luck in understanding the Turk and by extension her knowing how to turn it into what it needs to be soon; then she would be forced to give them the proper motivation.

"Ms Weaver, you're back." One of the technicians said seeing her standing in what would have been the doorway to their lab, at the sound of her name the other employees who were there quickly spun around acting like they'd been doing something they shouldn't have. Such fear amused her, but as long as they did what she told them to when she told them to, she wasn't worried about what else they did as long as it wasn't betraying her. "We haven't been able to find out just how this works, any better than when you were last here." She continued hoping that their boss' ire wouldn't be turned on them, there had been rumours she had found one of the ZeriaCorp employees complaining about her on their night off, no one knows what was said or done but they didn't come back to work after it. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say there was some type of block built into it."

"A block?" running her hand across the Turk like she had done when she first got it, the T-1001 turned to look at the woman who had been speaking to her. "You think there's something built into it that's stopping us from getting the information we need? How interesting." She whispered the end part to herself more than anybody that was working there, who would have thought that a human could build something so advanced and complicated, only ever thinking it would play a game of chess and nothing more. "How long before you can program the computers to get around it?" she asked.

"I don't think we can," a second technician spoke up, the attention snapped to them as the other workers slunk away not wanting to have to deliver the news themselves or be around the person that did. "Our computers are running at near maximum capacity, and we've got what two and a half three percent tops of what's locked in this thing. The odds of finding one powerful enough to be able to take the amount of information that's in this thing are probably slim to none.

- - -

Waiting for John and Cameron to come back, Sarah hadn't told Derek about what she thought had happened between the two while they were upstairs or what might have taken place even earlier than that. She wanted to give her son at least the chance to explain what they had been doing and just why they were suddenly closer to each other again, it could have been just one big misunderstanding between them all and if it was then there was no reason to take a gun to Cameron just yet. It could have been the years of the mental institution that had her sitting there looking like a crazy woman waiting for her next victim, but she hadn't cared about her image for a long time.

"To construct the weapon and have it ready to use in a combat situation could take up to a month. We were lucky the isotope solution hadn't been damaged and is in working condition." Cameron's voiced floated in through the door before either her or John could be seen, with the mood Derek had been in when he left the house it was a good thing he hadn't returned just yet; Sarah doubted he'd be able to stop himself from trying to attack the Terminator and the result wouldn't have been pretty for him.

"We just need it ready in case it comes looking for us," John walked into the house first carrying a collection of different sized metals and alloys that didn't look like they'd been cut or moulded into shape yet, not even a foot behind him was the cyborg that was usually the cause of the arguments Derek started her own arms full of different metal, if anyone saw them walk from the car to the house then they would have thought she was on steroids as it didn't look like she could see over them properly. Removing the half inch cube of what appeared to be a gel of some kind from the small metal box it had been stored it, he doubted Cameron's attempts of making sure it was locked away would have been any good if it had been damaged; put in a box or not.

"We need to talk John," turning to see his mum sitting there for the first time since walking back into the house, he dropped the small piece of equipment that would power the rifle once it was completed in Cameron's outstretched hand knowing full well what this was going to be about. A quick look at her to try and tell her that this was what he wanted to avoid earlier. Following Sarah into the kitchen and walking around her to make sure he could look over her shoulder and into the living room was just one of the joys of them not having a door there. "So, are we going to talk about it?" she asked knowing full well he wasn't going to start the conversation himself if he didn't have to.

"Talk about what?"He asked grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge so he had something to occupy his hands, if he played dumb then maybe she's let the conversation drop.

"What Derek said she told him," looking over her shoulder at Cameron who was busily picking pieces of the metal they brought home up and putting it into piles, she guessed she could call Cameron attractive if you were a hormonal sixteen year old and she was one of the only woman you saw everyday with the other being your mother. "Was one of them lying?" Sarah half asked half begged, the blank look that formed on John's face as he stared at her before looking past her and into the living room didn't fill her with hope. There was no doubt that Cameron could hear everything that was being said between them.

"And what if they weren't?" his eyes staying glued to the cyborg in the living room longer then Sarah liked, just like they had that day in the church. Slowly his gaze found her once again, having seen Cameron turn to look at him not knowing what he was doing, "What's it got to do with Derek if I do? It's _my_ life, I can live it the way _I_ want as long as I become this hero. I can love who I want and neither of you can do a damn thing about it." silence filled the house as both Sarah and Cameron took in his words, one of them having already heard him say he loved the them and the other struggling to digest what her son had just said. Mother and son stared back at the other waiting for someone to do or say something, there was no taking back the words that John had just said and by the look in his eyes it wasn't something that had come out in anger or the heat of the moment. Blinking at him before turning around to look at Cameron, who was staring at them intently no longer pretending like she hadn't heard the whole conversation.

"Is this how Skynet wins the war? Defeats John Connor? By having him fall in love with something it made?" Sarah asked trying to hold back any tears that might have fallen, that still might when she was alone. Not waiting for an answer she walked out the kitchen and past Cameron who hadn't moved from her spot in the living room.

"I don't know, I'm not Skynet and I don't want to kill John." Watching as the older woman didn't stop her escape of the house, John could only sigh when the front door was opened and then slammed shut seconds later; he had a pretty good idea that they wouldn't see her for the rest of the day, and then the fun would begin again when Derek was told about this.


	12. Chapter 12

Letting out a breath that he hadn't known he kept in, John looked away from the door and towards his Terminator protector that was slowly turning her head to look at him. Confusion in her brown eyes as she waited for him to explain what had just happened, the part of him that was still annoyed and preparing for another fight told him it was just something else to add to the list that stopped her from being human. _But was it really her fault this time? _He had told her earlier on that they couldn't tell either Sarah or Derek anything that happened between them, and then the first chance he had to cover his tracks he didn't. Not realizing that he was just staring at Cameron who hadn't moved from her spot, a flash of hurt brown eyes and a crestfallen face appeared as quickly as it vanished, a reminder of when John had told her that their kiss outside the house couldn't happen again.

"You contradicted what you told me when we were going to the old house." Her voice bringing him back out of his daze, blinking slowly to try and remove the image from his mind, John watched as Cameron tilted her head to the side not knowing why he had been staring at her and wondering if he had even heard her talk. "Sarah will now tell Derek that you admitted to what I had said; this will only serve to increase tension." Knowing that he couldn't or wouldn't tell her why he hadn't denied it like she had thought he was going to and he told her they needed to, after he told he loved her in the way that he did, there was little to no chance John was going to admit it was the thought of seeing her hurt that stopped him.

"People do it a lot," he offered as an explanation only now taking a mouthful from the water he had grabbed trying to put off the conversation he had with his mum before, unsuccessful as he was. "You don't need to worry about it." trying to force a reassuring smile on his face but failing, not knowing what was going to happen once Derek came back. Still not understanding fully but trusting him to explain it to her later, Cameron moved back over to the table and continuing what she had been doing while listening to the conversation between John and Sarah. While she hadn't thought that anything of the material would have survived the explosion after the gas tank had blown the house half to hell, it was something that he would order his soldiers to do in the future. Raiding destroyed Skynet factories had been one of the main ways the resistance was able to collect weaponry that had been more effective against the Terminators and HK's that were created, as well as collecting any designs that they could get their hands on revealing weaknesses in the machines they hated so much.

Watching as she put the pieces of metal into piles that only made sense to her, John wasn't too sure on what to do next. Taking the gamble to see if there was any material left from when Cameron had been trying to create a second plasma rifle for them had been one thing, and even with seeing its power against Cromartie he wasn't too sure what their next move should be. They had Cromartie looking for him, and now the T-1001 knew what he looked like, the fact that it was either working for or running the company that was buying up everything the resistance needed or used didn't fill him with hope.

"The efficiency the rifle will have against a T-1001 is unknown." Breaking into his thoughts like she had done on numerous times before, Cameron didn't even turn her head to look at him too busy as she now looked down at the box containing the isotope that would power the gun. "Every battle against the T-1000 model or subsequent ones were done with weapons that gave out extreme temperatures before they were brought back to the camps to try and reprogram them. Each attempt failed and they were thrown onto a pyre before they rebooted." Now turning to look at John, her CPU loaded up the image of the resistance leader next to the sixteen year old that claimed her loved her. Even in appearance there were still too many differences between them; this John still had a light behinds his eyes no matter how rare it appeared it was something that Cameron wanted him to keep, the inhuman ability to ignore debilitating pain or on the other side of the coin at times strength and stamina hadn't been shown regularly enough. Continuing her scan of the differences between the two even if they were the same person, she noted two other major discrepancies between them, the lack of darkness that seemed to flow around him in the future which both scared and empowered the resistance when he walked onto a battle field, no matter how many times it had been said that Terminators couldn't feel fear; Cameron had been there to witness her own kind flinch as odd as it sounded when Connor was there. The other was the lack of a scar running down his left cheek that he had refused to tell anyone the origin of was the remaining visual difference.

"Are you ok in there?" a tap on her head followed John's question, if he hadn't know better he would have thought Cameron jumped. "You're not going to try and kill me again are you?" he half joked as his body was poised to dive backwards and away from her at the slightest movement which would signal an attack. "Cameron." Not used to being ignored let alone by his personal bodyguard even if he was unsure of what else she was at the minute. Companion? Girlfriend? Lover? Watching with a raised eyebrow as she now lifted her head to look at him instead of the spot that she had been staring at which he occupied over a minute ago.

"My system was running a scan to purge any errors." Cameron finally offered not sure just why she had froze up like she had, instead of just taking up a small portion of her processor when she tried to list the differences between the two, her CPU had made it a priority and left her unable to run anything less. "The metal will need to be cut to the right size and thickness," turning away from John and looking down at the table as she less then subtly changed the conversation without alleviating any worries he had about her, "the isotope will also need to be stored somewhere it is less likely to be damaged." Not waiting for him to either say or do anything else, Cameron placed the box back in her pocket before collecting that looked to be a ridiculous amount of the metal from the table before turning to leave the living room and house.

Wanting to get to the bottom of whatever the problem was, not believing that she'd been running a scan, John started to pick up the remaining pieces that had been left on the table before following her out. Carrying an amount that didn't weigh a quarter of what Cameron had taken, he knew that it would only bring attention to them if anyone saw what was going on at their house, it was a plus that even with Kacy being there nearest neighbour the amount of trees that surrounded the houses in the area gave them a higher level of anonymity which they didn't have before. Making it halfway towards the shed that Cameron had gone in before she appeared, not saying anything she took the materials he was carrying from his arms and started to head back to the shed without a look over her shoulder at him.

"You're welcome." Turning away and walking back to the house, John wasn't too sure what was wrong if either her from the blatant lie that she gave only seconds before and then there was himself. His reaction to Derek earlier wasn't something that had been building up over time, and then what could be called a conversation with his mum he guessed wasn't all that great.

Catching the look that he threw back at the shed as he walked away, as she changed the blade on the saw that had been left he behind, she shot another look through the opening in the shed watching as John slammed the front door to the house, before she plugged it in. Straightening out at the movement at the corner of her eye, Cameron turned to stare at Derek warily understanding that with his hatred of her the confrontation could become physical between the two.

"You know he might think that he loves you right now, fuck he probably does." Stepping further into the medium sized shed and closing the door behind him, Derek enjoyed the fact that he towered over Cameron; despite the fact that if she wanted to she could tear off his arm and beat him with it, his being taller and wider then her gave him a feeling of security no matter how fleeting. "But what happens if you go bad again and try to kill him? Or what if Sarah gets hurt because you make a mistake? What if it's him that gets hurt trying to save you? Do you really think he'll look at you the same way that he does right now?" staying silent as he spoke, Cameron knew that his words no matter how they were tossed out at her did hold a sense of truth behind them. John had twice saved her, the first when he tossed her off of the pier and then dragged her body out of the water after he had been shot, and only before he had saved her from the T-1001 were he had been lucky nothing had happened to him. However neither had resulted in a change of attitude from him. "What if we don't stop Judgement day, there won't be much that you can do to stop him from finding out the truth then is there? Because right now he thinks that you just came off of a factory line like the T-800's that went back before you, readymade and standing pretty just like you are now."

"He came to accept what had happened once, he'll be able to again." A slight palpitation in her voice that had only formed after the car explosion wasn't soft enough to get by the older male from the way a grin formed on his face.

"No," shaking his head as he stepped closer only for Cameron to hold her ground. "Connor accepted that you killed Alison Young, and tried to take her place in the resistance because you were going to kill him. He mightn't have liked it, but he accepted it because he's a bastard General that knows full well he's sending people out to die as long as he can live. Family or not." Her loyalty to John in both times saw Derek being thrown into the shelves to the side of the shed for his comment on John, not enough force behind it to send him through the wood but enough for it to hurt him. "Hit a soft spot?" despite his shoulder and arm hurting he couldn't stop the laugh. "She followed him everywhere he went when he was inside the camp, big on the hero worship, a Connor groupie. Can't blame her, after the bombs dropped and we were all holed up in the mountains, he went out to try and find survivors that didn't have a radio or know where to go. We all thought he was crazy, barely twenty and giving orders to people twice his age before going off on some suicidal rescue mission, came back with a three year old baby." Pulling himself up from the floor he stared at Cameron who for the first time was hearing something about the life she ended.

"She looked at him like a big brother, well a big brother she had feelings for anyway; no one thought anything of it. Most of the fighters loved Connor in some way, he was our hero." Watching as Derek walked out of the shed, Cameron didn't know if he was going to go and tell John how she got her skin sheath, she had no intention of telling him. If they stopped Judgement day then he'd never meet Alison Young and if they didn't then she'd tell him she must have lost those files during the car explosion.

_Sitting in the large office that was also classed as a bedroom, home, personal infirmary and when he didn't want to eat with his soldiers dining area, Cameron waited for John to come back after telling her he needed to brief the battalion he was sending out. He had claimed that her staying there was for her safety which had confused the Terminator, none of the resistance posed a viable threat to her but it had been John that had told her so she listened. Turning her head when she heard the thick metal door opening, and then the dull sound of footsteps echoing off of the floor, not for the first time she found herself inexplicably smiling at him._

_"Did your men understand their mission?" she asked watching as he sat down in the seat opposite, her head moved to the customary position cocked slightly to the side as she tried to understand how one man could apparently send the darkness away with his mere presence when so much of it seemed to congregate around him. She had often overheard female soldiers when inhibited on the self made alcoholic beverages talk about how they thought John was banished from hell with the mission to drag Skynet back to the depths with him; which apparently explained why it feared him so. This was usually followed by them then giggling away as they whispered what they would do to him if they had him alone in their barracks for one night. The detail they went into with their fantasies meant Cameron was able to swap any of the female soldiers and have an idea of what they'd do to him. They all claimed that they knew he was big, because of the size of his feet._

_"They know what to do, what to bring back and what to blow up." Stretching back against the chair he never noticed her eyes glow a soft blue. Looking down at his size eleven and a half foot covered boot, Cameron's slowly travelled up John's legs and stopping at his groin where she stared in shock. According to the his feet John's penis was huge and by her calculations there wasn't a female in the camp that could realistically have sex with him without damaging their own bodies. Any further thoughts were stopped by the slightly embarrassed cough that snapped her gaze up to his face. "I think it's time that you can start to move around the camp without me being there now, maybe even get a find a bed to sleep in."_

_"Have I failed in my duty's to keep you safe?" Cameron asked not knowing why he couldn't be there when she walked around the camp, her mission was to keep John Connor safe and it only made sense if they were around each other for her to be able to do so at the highest level she could. "None of the soldiers feel comfortable in my presence and only remain silent when you are there, the chances of any of them offering to allow me to be in the same room as them while they sleep are 0.097 percent." Sighing slightly John didn't have the heart to tell her why none of the resistance hated her, the reasoning went beyond her being a Terminator and who she replaced. Watching the way he was sitting, slouched forwards and not at all back straight like she did, she registered that it either indicated either annoyance, or tiredness. Believing that it was the latter, Cameron stood up and made her way around to the back of his chair before her hands resting on his neck muscle. The contact immediately told her that the touch increased any tension he was feeling as his body froze up, with there being no order for her to let him go, her tiny impossibly soft hands started to knead his neck as she stood over him. "Do you ever wish someone else was John Connor?" her voice came out quieter now as it did every time she said his name., being able to feel him slowly relaxing against her touch she continued her impromptu massage._

_"Every single day," the answer took longer to come then what was normal between the two of them when a question was asked, but it was still taking John time to get used to her 'just making conversation.' Taking in his words Cameron looked down at the top of his head, she had known there was a high probability that he would have replied with a statement like that, but she found herself while not pleased but something parallel to it, that it was he who was John Connor. "They look to me to solve every single problem, and I have to know the answer to it because I'm John Connor. The saviour. The hero. Their very own person Jesus Christ." Her biometric scan sent the tell tale signs of tension creeping in, as the muscles she was massaging started to once again turn into granite under her fingers. Unsure of what she should do next, and disappointed her massage wasn't having the desired effect quick enough, Cameron ran through the ways Skynet had programmed into her that humans used to help each other when one person was reaching stress levels that were dangerous to their health. Leaning forwards, she pressed her lips against his forehead in what she understood as a kiss, watching as his eyes which had been drifting shut snapped open. If she were a person there was a chance that she would have lost her breath due to the fact that John's eyes seemed to be generating heat as they for the first time had a vibrant emerald colour to them, instead of the more dull green that told anyone who looked, he had seen too much in his life._

_"Why would they wish to nail you to a cross?"_

Having no inclination that she could trust Derek to not say anything, as well as being aware that the truth of why she looked the way she did contained the possibility to anger John due to his belief that every human life was worth something. Cameron placed the saw down next to the pieces, ready to turn and head back towards the house and ask John to come and help her. She wanted him there for two reasons, to make sure that Derek didn't say anything to him, and from experience he was more affectionate to her when it was just them compared to if Sarah or the bitter resistance fighter was around.

Stepping out of the shed she was stunned by the 2 x 4 that shattered across her face upon impact, thinking that it was Derek who was the assailant Cameron was ready to defend herself while making sure there was no lasting damage to him knowing he'd be able to turn it around to make it seem like she had turned again; with only John believing her. Snapping her head to the side, as well as lifting her arm up to stop the next blow, Cameron's CPU starting flashing with different warnings seeing Cromartie staring back at her, a blank look on his face as she grabbed hold of both his wrists and slammed him into the shed, the building shaking under the force.

Her need to make sure John was safe as well as the sudden urge to pay Cromartie back for shooting her charge, resulted in Cameron stepping away slightly before sending a right hook flying into the larger machines body the force of which cracked pieces of the shed before bouncing him off of it enough for her second punch to more damage than the first. Catching her third punch in his first, Cromartie was ready to remove Cameron from the fight and head inside the house to find John, his mission having nothing to do with the female Terminator, however her resourcefulness wasn't something he had expected from her having already fought her twice, so her free hand gabbing hold of his shirt and driving him backwards; the wall of the shed crumbling under the force of two Terminators wasn't something he thought would happen.

One hand trying to crush the coltan neck, Cameron groped the table with the other never taking her eyes off of him knowing how dangerous he could be; their first battle in John's home coming to mind when he nearly stopped her from using the electric cable to stop him briefly. Her shorter reach prevented her from being able to grab hold of anything that would help disable the other Terminator; the few tools that were held on the bench they landed on were either buried under pieces of wall or fallen to the floor. Seeing that there wasn't anything she could get hold of to cause more damage to his body, and the fact that she wasn't still pummelling him; Cromartie forced her hand off of him before shooting forwards and driving his head into hers. Using the gained momentum, he quickly placed both of his feet on Cameron's stomach and thrust her backwards, the power needed to make sure the coltan joints moved effectively working to full capacity as her smaller frame went flying out of what was left of the shed and hit the gravelled floor hard.

"You should never have failed your original mission, now you will have the memory of seeing his dead face." Moving away from the table like a demented killer doll, Cromartie picked up the saw that was going to be used to cut the metal for the rifle. Standing above Cameron who was only just getting back to her feet, he drove it into her shoulder and dragged it downwards relishing the feeling of it getting caught in her synthetic skin. Only just finding out that she could feel pleasure both physically and to an extent emotionally, Cameron hadn't known that her ability to feel pain would be increased as a drawback. Unable to stop the anguished scream that tore free from her throat, she only hoped that Derek was back at the house and would be able to get John out before Cromartie decided to leave her there.

"Do it," her voice laced with emotion as she was knocked back to the floor and the saw was this time slammed into her back before being dragged downwards once again. Any pain that her chip and CPU registered when the saw was dragged back by his hand, was amplified when Cromartie picked up the power cable for the saw and with what was a malicious grin turned it on, watched as Cameron writhed about as she tried to reach around her back to remove it, her screams of pain only adding to the sinister grin that was growing with each second.

"It won't be long now, John Connor will die." Preparing herself for the blow that would either remove her chip or shut her system down for two minutes, but neither came. As silently as she herself could walk, the male Terminator vanished almost like he hadn't been there if you didn't count the destroyed shed and her damaged and writhing body on the floor.

Having put his headphones on once he went back inside the house and walking around the house, John was doing his best to not go into Cameron's room. He was trying to hold onto his annoyance with her unspoken dismissal of him not matter how small and pitiful the thought was, and going back in there would crush any thoughts of holding it. Ok so maybe the answer he gave her when she wanted to know why he had admitted to his mum that he said he loved Cameron could have been worded better, but was that really reason to act like he couldn't have helped her assembling the gun? Pausing mid-step when it sounded like someone screaming out in pain, John turned down his music as he looked around not sure if he had actually heard it or if it had just been his imagination.

It was the second cry that caused him to throw his headphones off and start walking downstairs once again trying to figure out just where the noise was coming from, opening the front door John's jaw dropped. His eyes were drawn to the ruined shed straight away, one of the walls had been completely smashed in, in what seemed to be slow motion he allowed his gaze to follow the black power cable across the debris and to Cameron who was still on the floor trying to get the saw from between her shoulder blades.

"Cameron!" his voice rang out over the whirring sound of the saw, terrifying the Terminator on the floor at the fact that he was now coming outside where Cromartie was going to be waiting to kill him. Rushing across the gravelled floor and into the shed, were he tore the plug out of the wall socket a split second before seeing the butt of a shotgun and grabbing hold of it, John turned and while still worried but with a calmer step made his way to her side before carefully pulling the saw out of her back, not wanting to cause anymore damage to her. "Derek?" the one word question was all that was needed for her to understand, he was asking both where his uncle was and if he was the one that had done this to her.

"John, you have to go." One of the few times there had been any level of authority in her voice, the last time he could remember was when she had stopped him from saving the girl at their school. "Cromartie's here. GO!" half shouting, half begging at him this time, trying to give off the importance that he flee as soon as he could before it was too late as well as keeping the level of distress in her own tone down to a minimum, Cameron refused to take his hand knowing full well he wanted her to go with him. She couldn't do that until she knew the immediate area was safe before following him, hearing his feet hit in the floor in a pattern that told her John was running, Cameron found herself taking deep unnecessary breaths something she had picked up on while living with John and Sarah.

A plank of wood snapping underfoot behind her caused her to spin around ready to engage Cromartie in another fight, however her thoughts of John cut her reaction time down enough for the black steel sledgehammer that shot through the air to slam into the bridge of her nose. Hitting the floor with the force that would have given a person a concussion, Cameron blinked wildly as she stared up at the sky, her head shaking. A swing of the weapon from an above average human into the face would easily kill another person, so it wasn't shock as such when she added to additional damage that she was suffering due to a Terminator wielding it, but fear that she now wouldn't be able to protect John quickly shot through her. Blurred as it was, she saw the outline of Cromartie standing above her raising the weapon above his head and then everything went black.

"Shit." Swearing at himself for tripping over the roots that were coming through the floor as he ran just beyond the first tree line, as well as the fact that he hadn't thought of grabbing his mobile phone before seeing who or what was screaming outside the house. John was feeling more like one of the helpless teenagers that he had seen and both made fun of their idiocy in horror films, the only difference between him and them there he knew what could be coming for him and he was armed, looking down at the shotgun that only had six shells left; _kind of_ he amended. Sure that the shops had up and moved further away during the night, because he knew that they were this far away when he had walked to the pier with Cameron and Riley, and then taken the latter out to explain that she couldn't just turn up at his house which resulted in him seeing Claire once again.

Looking over his shoulder and still not seeing anything coming after him, John fought with the urge to go back and check on Cameron once again. It gave him a sickening feeling in his stomach to leave her like that no matter which one of them was the cyborg from the future that was programmed to protect the other, mind made up and spinning on his heel back in the direction that he had come from; he didn't make it ten feet before freezing. Appearing in the middle of the road and luckily staring dead ahead was Cromartie, lowering his body and moving further into the tree line John tried to move as quietly as he could not wanting to bring any attention to himself before he was able to get a shot off.

Hearing a twig snap under his foot, he threw himself against the back of the nearest tree he could his foot skimming across the floor, being forced to snap it back behind the tree John was silently swearing at himself. Desperately trying to calm his breathing down, he could only hope that the Terminator probably about thirty feet away from him hadn't heard the noise, when he peered around the side of the tree he saw as usual his hopes hadn't been heard as Cromartie was coming towards him while checking anything he could hide behind or in. Knowing that this would be his best chance, he slowly edged around the tree as slowly as he could to make sure he wasn't leaving himself open to an attack, John glared at the back of the machines head and didn't need a second invitation to shoot.

Bursting through a bush of some kind feeling the bottoms of his jeans being torn yet again and further shallow scratches form on his shins and calf's, things that would heal in a few hours but with his tiring body left like he had glass in them. He tried to urge more energy and speed out of his legs having an idea that he wouldn't be able to keep up this pace for long, not that it would matter with a killing machine sprinting after him hell bent on his death. It made him feel special, even if his day had been eventful enough. Three shots and he hadn't even knocked it down, the first to the back of the head had sent Cromartie forwards slightly, the second that had caught the side of his face and tore out the fake eye and skin around it revealing the blood red that haunted his dreams seemed to only piss it off and the third to his knee had left nothing more than a faint limp.

"Come on, keep going." Whispering words of encouragement to himself as he tried to force his body past its natural limits, John refused to stop despite the fact he couldn't hear footsteps sprinting after him, he doubted that he had lost the killing machine that easily. And he was proven to be right, upon getting past another tree and still not seeing any signs of the other end of what right then John would call the largest forest ever, it felt like a bull had just charged into his side, his body contorting around the solid shoulder before he was sent flying through the air and hitting the floor, the dry leaves raising due to the impact before floating back down, some landing on top of him.

Struggling for his breath against what he knew to be more than just having the wind knocked out of him, the sight of inhumanely polished black shoes had him both reaching for the shotgun that had landed several feet away and wondering if Terminators had some form of OCD.

"Aaarrggghh!" his scream of pain was loud enough to unsettle the birds that were enough of a distance away to not have been bothered by his earlier gunshots. Glaring up at the dark blonde Terminator that was maliciously applying more pressure to his hand getting some sort of sick pleasure feeling the bones break underneath and his screams of agony. It wasn't over, John knew that, you didn't just quickly kill you sole enemy, you wanted to savour it, enjoy each scream of pain and distress; revel in their pleas for mercy. Being kicked across the chest by Cromartie's other foot and flopping to his back knowing if it weren't for the machine still standing on his hand he would have flown through the air once again, a second scream escaped him feeling his shoulder being torn out of its socket and the muscles tear which made him dry heave on his back for a second, bringing up a small amount of blood mixed with spit landing on the bottom of his chin as he tried to get his breath back.

"You're going to die John." The words seemed to come from underwater to the sixteen year old as he was slammed back first into a tree, gasping as he felt at least three ribs snap from the excess force. He had always known deep down that a Terminator would kill him one day, he just hadn't thought t would be before Judgement day no matter how often when his anger that sparked and he hadn't been able to stop himself he screamed at his mum that he wished they had killed him years ago when he was in foster care. Looking up into the one brown and one red eye, there was little John could do but grin at the machine.

Staring at the blood stained teeth, Cromartie cocked his head to the side wondering just what about his current situation did the boy feel was worth smiling for.

"Fuck you." A face full of spit and blood punctuated John's words as he started to laugh knowing full well what was going to happen to him but was going to be defiant to the end. Understanding the gesture spitting in someone's face meant but unable to feel the rage that would usually follow, the male Terminator could only do what his programming told him to. Looking over his shoulder and at the tree he had come around for his first attack. Not bothering to look back at John when he repositioned his hands on his target's shirt, Cromartie launched him towards the tree he was staring at not bothering to reduce any of his strength and smirked as he watched Connor hit it, his body bouncing half a foot backwards due to the impact, followed by pieces of bark that had been ready to fall off the tree, which now either dropped to the floor or were embedded in John's face before dropping to the floor.

Aware of John's ability to seemingly come back from the dead in the future, Cromartie picked up the shotgun before casually walking towards the teenager that hadn't so much as twitched since hitting the tree, rolling him over to his back and watching as the green eyes rolled into the back of his head, the cyborg smiled down at him allowing the unnaturalness of it to come through before pulling the trigger once.


	13. Chapter 13

Brown eyes flickered briefly as they stared up at the quickly turned overcast sky; no one that watched would have been able to guess what was really going on behind them as the brunette pushed herself into a sitting position before looking around at the destruction. Without a second thought Cameron picked up the sledgehammer up off of the floor, taking in the splintered handle from the force of the blow to her face, looking over one shoulder before slowly allowing her gaze to travel the area going from one dirt path and tree line to the other; she wasn't sure if she'd only been there for two minutes or coupled with the lingering damage from the car explosion the two blows to her head had casued her to shut down for longer. Either way her desire remained the same. To protect John Connor.

There was a single and yet gargantuan problem with that, she didn't know where John had gone. Turing in the direction she had watched him start to move in, Cameron started walking along the dirt path that from memory she knew led to the pier, it was logical to her that he would go somewhere he had been before in an effort to escape from Cromartie even if it had been the place of his last near death experience. With a roar of thunder that seemed to emphasis the tension that had formed around them within the space of a few hours compared to what happened earlier on in the day, the sky's opened up as thick heavy rain drops sailed down soaking anyone that was outside in seconds. Unlike a human beings Cameron's eyesight wasn't hindered by the downpour that was hitting everything with enough force to make it appear they had an aura as the droplets bounced off.

Finding her choice in clothing was limiting her from moving as quickly as she would like due to the tight denim jeans now sticking to her legs becoming impossibly tighter by extension, Cameron stopped in the middle of the road not moving the hair that was now clinging to her face. Not knowing where John had gone after coming in this direction, not to mention that the weather was removing any possibility of finding any tracks either he or Cromartie would have left, she had only known failure twice before and both were times when she had tried to kill John; allowing the sledgehammer to drop from her hands and into the small puddle that was forming in the small pothole in the road, she continued to stare forwards, _Mission Objective: Protect John Connor_ repeatedly flashing in front of her eyes awaiting a failure notification from her which would remove the assignment from her chip.

- - -

The quite emergency ward of Calabasas Highlands hospital was thrown into life when the twin swinging doors were nearly thrown off of their hinges as four paramedics came sprinting through, a teenager laying on the gurney they had hold off; an oxygen mask on their rapidly bruising face and stomach bandaged which did nothing to slow the blood loss that was evident through the white material which was quickly being stained. If any of the people that had been sitting in the waiting room blinked they would have missed everything at the speed they had shot through another set of doors; it was only the soft sound of footsteps on the linoleum floor that signalled someone was walking over to the reception desk. Staring at the completely soaked man and girl that were standing there looking like a pair of drowned rats, the receptionist took a few seconds to stare at the terrified looks on their faces no doubt never having seen anyone in that state before; if she was honest with herself neither had she either. Well not that bad.

"I'll need to take your names and your son's." She spoke trying to put a compassionate look on her face, but after fifteen years of a job where you got next to no gratitude from anyone else that worked there; or the patients and family members that came and went it was getting harder and harder to act like you were truly worried about what happened. Her statement snapped the attention of the two people in front of her away from the doorway the paramedics and teenager had flown down and back to her, a slight look of confusion on the man's face as took a half step forward moving away from the puddle of water that had been forming at his feet, as the water continued to drip off of him.

"I....I'm Mark Dawson and that's my daughter Riley." Watching as the receptionist nodded and started to type away on her computer he took a breath knowing that his next statement was going to bring up questions he wasn't sure he could answer later on. "But that isn't my son." Eyes snapping away from the computer she was typing on to the male in front of her, the older woman sitting there was aware that if this wasn't real life, it could in theory be better then one of the shows she spent her free time watching. "I haven't got a clue who he is." Mark spoke once again this time taking the time to look at his daughter who was being unnaturally quite.

"You don't know who he was?" well this was a new one to her, sure there had been a few times when patients had been brought in by people that were friends or employer's, teachers; but never strangers. "I'm going to have to ask you stay here until a doctor comes down to talk to you," she informed the pair even if only one of them seemed to be paying any attention to what was being said, the dirty blonde haired girl still seemed to be in her own little world. "Because you were the ones that informed the hospital about him, and clearly no family being here, it'll be you the doctors want to talk to when they come back." Indicating to the seats against the wall for them to sit on she watched for a few seconds as the daughter was led over to them.

Three surgeons stood around the table either helping the one that was currently working or getting ready to at a seconds notice, all the while not knowing what would cause the amount of damage to someone that from what they could tell looked so young.

"Forceps." The order was answered with speed that made it seem like the other three there were already holding on to everything that would be needed in the surgery. Picking another piece of the shotgun slug that had been found out and dropping it into the tray that was rapidly being filled with them near impossible to see with the amount of blood that had stained them. A split second check at the monitor that held the teen's heart-rate and blood pressure both of which were at the risk of becoming dangerously low, letting any of them that didn't know they needed to work fast to save the patient's life. "Suction." Stepping back as he allowed another surgeon to remove the blood that was now blocking his view of anymore pieces of metal that had torn his stomach apart, as well as worrying him at the speed the loss of blood was happening.

Having no other choice but to be neutral about their work, the surgeons had to force a mask of indifference onto their faces as they looked at the mess that had been made of the stomach. The t-shirt that had long since been discarded might as well have been a lit match seconds before a tidal wave hit for all it had done apart from pieces of fabric that had gone into the wound. The amount of damage done from what could be seen looked like the gun was fired from less than ten inches away, for whatever reason whoever pulled the trigger wanted didn't aim at either the heart or lungs which would have left the male dead on arrival.

"Who'd do this to a kid?" following the gaze that was glued to the teens face and from what they could tell under the oxygen mask, as well as the severe bruising that was looking worse with each second they could just make out the look of indescribable agony. Grabbing hold of the light without being asked, and moving it into a better position that would allow them to see any more damage they couldn't find at first; frowning at the fact that there was still a lot of blood forming, not taking long before it was once again getting in their way as they were forced to stop once again. "He's haemorrhaging." The four didn't break a stride as they started to move in different positions, trying to stop the bleeding as well at least one of them keeping one eye on the monitor that was now shrilly beeping at them, telling them what they already knew.

"Suction." Needing nerves of steel to make sure the tube was put in the right place, all it would take was one small slip to put their patient in more trouble then he already was. Trying to move a smaller light around to where the blood seemed to be freely pouring from, time running out with each second that seemed to drag on for too long. "It's the left gastro-omental artery." Having no time to move out of the way as the suction tip was put over their arm and to the cause of the bleeding hoping they caught it if not in time, before the boy on the table died. "We'll need an ESU," footsteps and a swinging door was all they needed to hear to know someone had left to get one, the fact there wasn't one in the room already would be brought up later on, after they finished the surgery; granted the conversation would go one of two ways depending on if they were successful.

Not waiting for the generator to be plugged in before the two electrodes were placed either side of the small and yet deep hole in the artery. The near inaudible buzz coming through the electrodes came a few seconds before the visibly organs tenses as the current passed through them briefly, a sole pair of hands readjusted the electrodes to make sure they stayed either side of the wound before for a second time a current was passed through to try and cauterize the wound and then a third before they were removed.

"We'll stitch the area up as well to make sure it won't start bleeding again." Since asking for the forceps, the first surgeon spoke once again watching as two of his co-workers started to thread the needle on one side of the bed while he moved back around to the other. Picking his instrument back up, he once again started to removed the last few remaining metal shards that were now easier to find, as there wasn't any bleeding that would push them further around or have the possibility to go further into the males body and make _this_ surgery longer for all of them. "The Pyloric sphincter is intact, considering everything he got off lucky," not knowing the others were looking at him as he spoke to himself, the surgeon tenderly made sure other parts of the stomach hadn't received any damage to them. "We'll finish up here, put him in a room and later on start work on the rest of him." eyes flicking up to his face and then hand that had merely been bandaged up, them wanting to work on the worst injury first.

No longer sitting in her zombie like state, Riley was replaying the images of John laying back first on the floor. His face looking like he'd been smacked multiple times with a baseball bat and then there was that hole in his stomach, blood everywhere; on the floor, the three behind him, John's face, chest and said stomach that looked like it was trying to vacate the premises. Her head snapped up when she heard the door where the medics had rushed John opened up; watching someone walk out who she'd guess had just been running a marathon look around the waiting room. A quick side long look at her dad, she knew that he had no idea just why they had stayed, she was yet to tell him who they had saved and how she knew him. Her attention was quickly put back on the doctor talking to the receptionist while looking over at them.

"I'm Dr Owen," he introduced himself to which only Mark responded with a nod of his head, "I understand it was you who brought our nameless patient in but he's not your son." A nod of the head once again like he was a mute. "If he's not a family member then I'd like for the three of us to go into my office to talk about how you found him." turning to walk back through the doors that he'd come from he caught the confused looks on both Riley's and her dads face. "The wounds on his body were clearly done maliciously, they wanted him to die. We'll have no other choice but to get the police involved." This time the two followed him through the double doors staying silent, each lost to their own thoughts.

Sitting in the lavish office and looking at the qualifications that hung on the far wall, Riley didn't know where to put her eyes, the last time she had seen John was when he'd told her that she couldn't just randomly turn up at his house and then met some girl from his past. Normally she would have listened to what he'd said for a day or two and then turned back up like she used to, but that wasn't taking into consideration that John's overprotective standoffish sister freaked her out to no end.

"His name is John Baum." Both the doctor and her dad turned to look at her, the fact that she had come out with something that wasn't asked wasn't new for her but in this type of situation it had the chance to bring out difficult questions. Knowing what the next thing that was going to be asked was, she stared at the doctor, stating the words that she'd wanted to say since seeing him that day at school. "He's my boyfriend." Surprised about how easily the lie slipped off of her tongue, Riley made sure she kept eye contact with the doctor needing them to buy this.

- - -

_His body jerking like he'd just been dropped out of a tree, John looked up both shocked and confused to find himself back at home, standing in the living room; headphones in hand. Frowning as he tried to understand what he was doing there, he looked around to make sure there was no one else with him, something wasn't right, he knew that but whatever it was; was hanging just beyond his reach teasing him. Green eyes dropping down to the headphones in his hand, John started to slowly pick them up to see what was playing, that was before images assaulted his mind causing him to stumble backwards hitting the couch and falling over the arm of it._

_Letting out a shaky breath as he watched what seemed to be himself rushing to the front door and opening it, staring out at the destroyed shed and the prone form of Cameron who was laying on the floor with a saw embedded in her back as she struggled to get it out. As quick and violently as the images came to his mind they vanished again leaving him laying on the couch breathing hard, pushing himself up and back to his feet, lacking the minimal grace he carried himself with never mind his Terminator protector. Shaking his head even though the images had already left his mind, John couldn't get rid of the fear and shock that was filling his body that he'd felt when he opened the door. _

_Giving it a side long look and resisting the urge to rush out there, instead he started to make his way towards the stairs unable to walk in a straight line as his legs were shaking. Wincing as one of the steps creaked under his foot, John tried his best to move silently along the carpeted floor to his room; everything seemed to be fine in there, nothing to jump out and attack him and yet he wasn't able to stop himself from thinking that something was horribly wrong. Opening his drawer to grab his 45. ACP pistol, his eyes widened in worry when it wasn't there; wasting no time the drawer was slammed and another one was opened only to find no gun in there either. _

_ Hairs standing on end on the back of his neck made him think he was no longer feeling like he was alone in his room, John slowly turned around and stared at where he felt someone else was; his bed. If the images assaulting his head downstairs sent him into the couch, then seeing himself laying there; half his face a deep purple and thick bandages wrapped around his stomach, breathing tubes in his nose, and needles in his arms connected to a bag of blood nearly gave him a heart attack._

_"What's happening to me?" no one else being there meant his question wasn't answered even if he didn't want it to be, using the chest of drawers behind him to steady himself as he made sure he stayed on his feet, John weakly ran a hand over his face trying to wake himself up from a bad dream. When he moved it away from his face and looked again, it didn't help the worry about the level of his sanity at the fact his seemingly dying body wasn't there anymore; it was by no means he wanted to see it again but it left the question as to why he saw it in the first place. Having no weapon to defend himself from the very real dangers that could claim his life, John left the useless bedroom not sure where he was going to go but found himself stopping outside a cupboard that held things the family who lived there before them left._

_ When he had first gone into foster care and before he started to deny everything his mum had told him, he used to be scared of monsters hiding in cupboards wanting to get him, that was before Todd had opened the door and shown him that there were no such things as monsters. And then the T-800 had shown up to save him from the T-1000, he'd opened the same door that Todd had; only this time behind the cupboard door were hundreds more and John had been forced to learn that the monsters behind all of them were real._

_The sound of someone opening the door downstairs snapped his attention from the cupboard and what was or wasn't in there. Heading back down the stairs, cautiously staring at the front door and ready for anything that was going to come through it; posing his body so it was ready to attack anything that might come through if he didn't know who it was. It seemed to be somewhat anti-climatic when Cameron walked into the house. Cocking his head to the side at the sight of her in a near transparent white tank top and a miniskirt that could have doubled as a belt, the disarming smile she gave him made any thoughts of someone attacking him flee his mind. _

_"Hey," her somewhat shy greeting acted like a catalyst for John. Running out of the house to help Cameron and pulling the saw from her back, the sickening feeling of it tearing against her skin, her yelling at him to run away because Cromartie was there. Hiding from the murderous machine behind the trees before his unsuccessful attempt to destroy him. "John?" the hint of worry in her voice had him staring into her brown eyes less than a foot away from him, concern etched in them, he knew something wasn't right and now he knew what it was._

_"This.....This isn't...how it happened." His words coming out more broken then he wanted them to, John's head jerked backwards as flashes of running through plants in the woodland area around the house and going towards the pier. And then. Then Cromartie had burst around a tree and nearly ran through him, as he flew through the air feeling like he'd been hit by a wrecking ball. That impossible pressure on his hand, feeling like he'd been fired into a tree by a cannon and least but not least his stomach being on fire. "Cromartie.....he was........he was here." Her tiny and strangely warm hand cupped his cheek, gently bringing John's attention back to her and away from the door; Cameron smiled at him softly as if she understood his confusion._

_"Ssshhhh, it's ok John." Her thumb stroking his cheek to try and wipe away his confusion and evident worry was working as his face slowly started to tilt into her hand more and more. "Cromartie isn't here," taking a step closer to him so there was no distance between them, her smile turning from soft to full blown as she leant up slightly and placed a kiss on the corner of his mouth. The smile turned into a devious smirk when she knew she had his full attention, slowly she took his hand before placing it over her left breast allowing him to feel the steady thumping of a heartbeat there. Knowing that there was going to be a question from him, she quickly pressed her body against his before pulling his head down into a kiss._

_- - -_

Staring at what was left of the shed, Sarah's stomach happily dropped out as different thoughts all with the same result shot around her head. Cameron had turned on them again and killed John, by the looks of things brutally as well; or another machine had turned up and there had been a fight. Either way any anger she felt at her son earlier in the day and long since left her body, all but sprinting towards the house not caring if there was a Terminator in there that would killer her; like she had told John without him nothing mattered.

"John!?" her panicked cry echoed off the walls of the living room and back to her, she didn't need to wait long to know that no one else was in the house with her, the knowledge of that though didn't make her feel any better about what could be happening to him after seeing the remains of their shed. She knew there was a chance that he had merely gone out and like usual Cameron had followed him, that would mean Derek was the possibly victim; and as bad as it might have sounded if she said it to anyone it wouldn't have bothered her if he was, if that meant John was still alive. Pulling hr mobile out of her pocket and dialling his phone number, her eyes narrowed when she heard the faint ringing coming from upstairs; it wasn't a good sign when he didn't take his phone with him. Walking over to the small table the house phone sat on, she opened the small drawer before pulling out a Smith and Wesson 9mm, the good thing about knowing no one was ever safe meant there were weapons everywhere.

Grabbing the keys for the Dodge and half turning back towards the door, Sarah stopped at the shrill ringing of the house phone, more times than not the phone would have been ignored with all four of them having a mobile; but with John missing as well as Cameron and Derek nowhere to be seen she grabbed hold of the handset, showing more emotion then she had in years.

"John?" once again her son's name was the first thing she said, there was a slight pause on the other end of the phone that made Sarah feel more like a mum and less like the Amazon queen she had heard John calling her for years when he thought she couldn't hear him, if she went with that train of thought that would make him her warrior prince.

"Mrs Baum?" the slightly hesitant wavier in the males voice on the other end of the phone nearly convinced her that it was a human, but the memory of Cameron trying so desperately to trick John into not 'making her go' had put her on a higher level of alertness then before. "This is Dr Owen, from Calabasas general. We've got your son John here; we need you to come down." That was not a sentence that she ever wanted to hear from a doctor, cutting the phone call short she allowed the handset to drop onto the floor as both the car keys and pistol dug into her hands from the pressure she was applying to them. Cameron had attacked him, and yet somehow he'd managed to get himself to a hospital. The next time she saw that metal bitch she was going to burn her, against everything she had learnt over the past sixteen years she allowed her emotions to get the better of her and left her son with a murderous thing, something she could never and would never trust. A machine that John had all but said he was in love with.

The front door rattled from the force she used to slam it, and the Dodge truck got no more mercy from her as she climbed in. Not looking in the mirror, Sarah nearly drove through Kacy, who after having seen John fleeing earlier on, being followed by someone she hadn't seen at the Baum house before had been confused to what was going on, being pregnant and having her phones disconnected there was little she could do about it. But having seen Sarah run into the house and then the obvious destruction you didn't need to be clever to know something bad had happened.

"Sarah," she gasped clinging onto the car door through the open window not bothering to question the older woman and her nearly being run over. "It's about John." She continued not seeing the look that she was getting.

"I know." She spoke quickly ready to throw her car in reverse and get to the hospital before going on the hunt for Cameron, the chances are if she found out John was still alive then that's where the cyborg would end up. The question was did she wait for her and try to catch her by surprise, or gather every weapon they had at the house and hunt her down and show just where the John Connor she worshipped so much in the future got his maliciousness.

"Some guy with dark blonde hair started following him before." Kacy spoke, sure Sarah had said that she knew but she needed to tell her this, the fact that she hadn't been able to do anything when it happened had caused the guilt to weigh her down and knowing that they were good neighbours who would do the same thing for her. "I don't know what happened but I saw John taking off down the dirt path and about twenty seconds later he just appeared and started following him." noticing that the older woman's face changed slightly at the news and a somewhat bitter smile formed as she nodded her head, Kacy finally let go of the door watching as she slammed the car into reverse, kicking up gravel as it spun around and took off in the direction she had just pointed in.

Fumbling to get her phone out with one hand while keeping her eyes on the road, Sarah was refusing to let go of the anger that had built up against Cameron. Maybe she was channelling Derek but if Cromartie had turned up then why hadn't she fought him off, until they had the chance to take out his chip; she knew the brunette could disable him having known about it once before and had also taken on Terminator's bigger than him before.

"Hello." The politeness that was customary with Cameron answering her phone was still there even if it was tinged with what might have sounded like worry or concern.

"13th may. John's in the hospital, get there now." Not waiting for a reply from Cameron as she spoke the code for them to know it really was one of them talking, Sarah put the phone down before stepping on the accelerator flying past a car that to her was travelling far too slow to be allowed on the road. She knew that was probably the least likely reaction either of other two people and she used that term loosely would expect from the always in control woman, but the point was this wasn't about finding the Turk, and this wasn't trying to find a new house in an area where no one would know who they were, it was about her son. Not the future saviour of mankind but the child she had given birth to was in hospital and she hadn't been given any more details other than that, and from what Kacy had said she was nearly positive Cromartie had been involved.

Cutting another driver off and resisting the urge to shoot through the passenger window at the other car, Sarah tried to think about the last time either of them had been in hospital, and apart from her time in a mental institution she didn't think they had been; it was too dangerous their I.D's might be checked, someone could recognize them. Pulling up outside the hospital, she was only half surprised to see Cameron already standing there soaked head to toe in torn clothes that stuck to her, she wouldn't have out it past the cyborg to have grown wings and flown when the sentence 'John's in hospital' was uttered.

Seeing the older woman standing there looking like she'd run through hell to get to the hospital, Cameron refused to offer any words both neither seeing the need to and also remembering the last exchange that took place between the two of them; which resulted in her being asked if she was the reason Skynet might one day kill John.

"Here," turning back to look at Sarah, Cameron tilted her head to the side as the jacket was held out to her, sighing she took a step closer to the brunette who was looking at her like she just offered to have sex with her. "To hide the cuts on your arms and back, we can't afford to have them take you in and find out its metal and wires under there instead of blood and bone." Mouth slightly parted as she now understood why she was being given the jacket, Cameron took it from Sarah and quickly put it on, even if she knew that she'd be able to stop anyone from trying to put her in hospital if she wanted to.

"Thank you for explaining." Not sure if the older woman heard her as she walked off as soon as the jacket had touched her hand, spinning on her heel to catch up with Sarah, she didn't understand the need to stop at the central desk and wait for the woman sitting behind it to look up from the computer she had been typing at. Surely the two of them would have been able to find John on their own, the hospital whilst the main one for where they lived wasn't overly large and wouldn't take them too long to find him in here.

"I'm Sarah Baum; I got a phone call not long ago that my son John is here." Surprised about the level of restrained she was able to use while talking to the woman on the other side of the desk who was staring at her like she was thought Sarah was beneath her, she was half tempted to allow Cameron to tear the hospital apart to find her son, but that type of thing usually got on the news and wasn't laying low. Watching from just behind Sarah, Cameron could only stare as her eyes narrowed, when the receptionist turned away without and word and picked up the phone, this wasn't the normal response for someone when they were being spoken to. The reason for apparently being ignored was revealed as a doctor started walking over to them, face set into an expressionless mask, not being used to seeing humans look like that in this time the female Terminator quickly ran and scan to make sure he wasn't a threat either of them.

"Mrs Baum," he spoke just before he reached them, the results of her scan showed Cameron that he would have difficulty taking the woman he was talking to in a fight. "I'm Dr Owen, we spoke about your son having been brought in," a nod of the head from Sarah had the trio walking back through the swinging doors as the males eyes found the brunette trailing them, staying to the cut across the bridge of her nose briefly before turning away. "It was actually your son's girlfriend and her father that brought him in," he spoke after a minute of silence as they walked past wards and private rooms for patients. His comment however earned him the unwavering attention from both females; Sarah confused as to who he was referring to not knowing John had a girlfriend, and Cameron's eyes glowing a soft blue as she weighed up his words trying to find just how truthful they were whilst contemplating the shock that she felt slightly hurt a girl would be referred to as John's girlfriend.

Turning down a narrow corridor that was painted an immaculate white, they could see two other people sitting further down both not looking up in their direction after hearing the sets of footsteps. Flashing through her various displays trying to decipher who was sitting there, Cameron's body became straighter and her walk firmer as one of the results came back as someone she found created termination messages on her HUD. Riley.

"Sarah," the blonde spoke before standing up and hugging the older man for a split second, she had claimed to be John's girlfriend, so she needed to keep up pretences in front of the two people that didn't know she hadn't seen or talked to the male who was the reason they were there for over three weeks now. Turning away from the display and once again over-riding the termination order that had formed this time at the sound of the other girl's voice, Cameron looked into the room they were stood outside before slowly walking in; she calculated the odds of it being John's at ninety seven point eight five percent.

The male she was here for however didn't look like the John Connor she had known at anytime, breathing tubes carefully placed up his nose to make sure he was getting enough oxygen into his system, his right hand heavily bandaged and swollen was resting on his chest while his other was down at his side, the bandages that were wrapped around his waist tight enough to leave him feeling uncomfortable if he were awake, and finally his face. Moving forward even though she didn't need to with her enhanced vision; Cameron's mouth was once again slightly parted as she ran over hand gently over his cheek and up the side of face to his hair. His facial muscles had swollen significantly given off a softer more cushiony feeling, something that she found didn't suit John when she compared that to the harder more defined look and feel his face had only hours before. Bending down she placed a soft kiss on his forehead like she recalled him doing to her when he pulled both of their bodies out of the water at the pier, only he didn't wake up. Confusion filled her system as she tried to understand just why her pain receptors were starting to go off when she wasn't damaged, it was resulting in tears slowly starting to form something that had only happened to her twice before; when John was ready to send her back to protect his teenage self, and when she had been begging with him to not take out her chip and _kill_ her.

The subtle change in room temperature had Cameron turning back around to the doorway, Sarah, Riley and the doctor were all staring back at her, two of the three taking her actions of that as a concerned sister while the only one who knew what she really was narrowed her eyes. The exchange only lasted two seconds before the attention was placed on John, more cautious then she'd been since Kyle Reese saved her life and told her what the future would bring, Sarah started to make her way over to her son, not needing to say a word to Cameron for her to step aside and watched as for the first time the older woman looked broken.

"The damage done to your son is extensive; the wound to his stomach was caused by a some type of shotgun, in the morning we'll be giving the fragments of the bullets to the forensic police department for them to have a look at. He's lucky that while the gun has put him here, we were able to remove the shards from his stomach in one operation, in time his stomach will heal; but there's a high probability he'll be in some type of discomfort when partaking in highly demanding physical activities. We'll be taking him back into surgery hopefully sometime this week if we think he can take it, to work on both his hand and cheek." Looking up to see that none of them were really paying any attention to him, and instead staring down at John; he slowly moved back to the door. "I'll see if we can arrange a room for you or your daughter to spend the night while he's in here." Dismissing the fact that Riley after claiming to be his girlfriend might want to have the chance to stay in the hospital, the doctor closed the door behind himself.

Now that there was only the three of them left in the room, an uncomfortable silence emerged as Sarah stroked John's head as she took his left hand into her own, watching the display of affection that was otherwise absent from the other woman, Cameron turned around to settle her gaze on Riley who had hung further back in the room.

"You are _not_ John's girlfriend." She spoke taking a step forward and watching as the blonde now looked nervous that one of them at least picked up on her lie. "He has shown no romantic interest in you, and pushed you out of his life."

"I-I.....I found him didn't I?" the creepy feeling that she had around the brunette came back full force as she stared into her expressionless eyes.

"You could have told them that you were his friend, or you went to school with him." her reasoning for what she said knocked away like a fly would be out of the sky. Tilting her head to the side as she watched Riley attempt to step around her and move closer to John's bed, Cameron blocked her path with ease.

"Just because you're creepily overprotective of your brother doesn't mean he tells you everything, how would you know if he had a girlfriend? Do you follow him everywhere he goes?" as slight push into the brunette's chest that didn't budge her, and resulted in Riley being sent to the floor in a retaliatory stronger shove.

"Get out." The first words spoken by Sarah since talking to the receptionist stopped anything else from happening that would end in the blonde's death, both females turned to look at her not sure which one of them she was talking to; her anger and dismissal having been directed at both of them before. "Now Riley." The cover story meant sending Cameron out of the room would have created more questions if anyone thought about the fact she was meant to be John's sister and Sarah's daughter. Picking herself up off of the floor, she gave the two of them what she thought was a menacing stare before walking out of the room, letting the door slam shut behind her.

"His scaphoid and pisiform have been crushed." Turning to look at the machine, who was now holding onto John's bandaged hand, it seemed more comforting to her to hear about his injuries from someone that was meant to protect him in an emotionless voice rather than a doctor who would try to pretend they knew what she was feeling or thinking. "The middle and proximal phalanx are always crushed on three of his four fingers. There is no damage to either the muscles of tendons." Turning to look at Sarah for a brief second before allowing her hand to once again travel to his face, she allowed the information to pass through the sensors on her finger tips. Opening her mouth to speak before quickly closing it again as she stared down at John, Cameron was unsure of any other way to tell Sarah about the damage to his face without using medical terms she wasn't sure the parent knew. However there was one thing she knew she could tell the other woman that she'd understand whether she'd want to hear it was a different matter. "The trauma John has suffered has casued him to slip into a coma; the sooner he wakes up the more likely his chances will be of survival."

"I'm going to lose my son." The whispered statement from Sarah came through crystal clear to the female Terminator as she walked towards the door, ready to leave the room; whether it was meant for her to hear or not. John Connor was dying. That one fact sent Cameron's CPU into disarray, sitting on one of the chairs that were opposite his room, there was nothing she could do to stop the sporadic tremors that tore through her. Memories of her time with this John started to flash past her eyes, forcing her to take in the information as quickly as her chip would allow her.

_'I don't know how she does I; all I know is that she can heal anything that happens to her body. She's been in car crashes, fires, had pieces of wood lodged in the back of her head, impaled herself on steel rods, threw herself off of scaffolding and just gets back up.'_ The words coming through like John had been standing next to her repeating them caused Cameron to slowly turn her head to stare down the corridor, in case for some reason beyond what she could comprehend he was going to actually be standing there.

- - -

_Laying on the couch this time of his own accord, John was having trouble getting his head around the fact that Cameron had a heartbeat when she was on stretched out on top of him in her bra and miniskirt. It wasn't like he was complaining, or he'd rather talk to her as she seemed to be having the time of her life placing kisses along his jaw line and neck before biting down gently on a vein there. Trying to stifle the groan that was battling valiantly to escape, John was fighting to keep his eyes open already knowing that the second he closed them he'd once again see the scenes of himself being killed by Cromartie._

_"Having fun?" the question was followed by a teasing giggle there was nothing he could do to stop the wide smile from forming on his face. "Because I think you're having fun," a disarming smile that would probably stop a serial killer punctuated the statement, as Cameron placed her hands on his shoulders and held her body just off of John's, her hair dropping around her face and tickling his nose as it swayed above his face. Lowering her face to place a quick kiss on his mouth before pulling away again, Cameron laughed when John tried to reach up to her as she arched her body further away from him._

_"I was," grinning slightly as he once again tried to reach up to her only for Cameron to once again arch her body away from him, shaking her head and laughing. Pouting for a second before his eyes found the amount of flesh that was hovering just above his own body, John mentally amended his statement, he still was having fun. Grabbing hold of her hips and grinning evilly as the sudden contact made her gasp, rolling off the side of the couch the otherwise light atmosphere was broken by the scream that Cameron let out before finding herself on the floor under John. "Hey," grinning at the annoyed look that formed on her face due to the fact that she was no longer able to tease him._

_"That's not fair." Pouting to try and drive her point home, as well as trying to push him off of her or roll them over again, Cameron could barely lift her body off of the floor with John laying on her. The action or rather lack of her being able to move him, casued a slightly confused frown formed on his face watching as she once again tried to roll them over. "You're too heavy," she laughed finally giving up on gaining the advantage over John once again, the fact that she hadn't been able to move him was something that he wasn't so keen to let go of as she was. "John, are you ok?" for the second time her voice was laced with worry seeing him zone out on her, watching as he blinked slowly like he was learning to do so for the first time before his eyes settled on her. _

_Cocking his head to the side as she stared down at her, John now knew there was something definitely different about Cameron. Not wrong just new. When that was added to them not doing anything, her having a heartbeat came back to the front of his mind like a speeding truck, then there was also her not being able to move him off of her which made things stranger. Half smiling down at her which seemed to be enough of a response for Cameron who was staring back up at her, letting her head rest on the floor; the truth was staring John in the face even if he wasn't looking for it, or refusing to see it. Somehow, for some reason she was human. _

_That was as far as John got before movement from her brought the more hormonal part of his brain back, and the fact that he was laying on top of an extremely willing Cameron wearing a bra and miniskirt that did things to boys like him that would cause nuns to blush. Her own smile formed as she watched John's eyes travel down her body in an appreciative way before they made a slow path back to her face, his hand soon followed the path that his gaze had created, ghosting down her neck and across her breast before trailing down her stomach. There was nothing she could do to stop the shiver that was casued from his touch no matter how light it was and she didn't want to stop it either, there was also the fact that the gentleness of it was starting to make her squirm, something that didn't stop as John's hand slowly travelled across to her hip and down the skirt to her leg that she so far hadn't tried to wrap around him to join the other._

_"I love you," the words were whispered from Cameron almost reverently as John let down to capture her mouth in his own, though her saying them was more than enough to get him to stop for a second. He could count the amount of times he'd heard those words said to him on one hand, and the last time she had said them she had even told him at a later date she hadn't meant it. Still any action other than the one he was originally going for would have made him seem suspicious, it was with that train of thought which allowed John to follow through with kissing Cameron, keeping his eyes open longer then he needed to as he watched her own drift shut._

_- - -_

Sneaking back into the hospital was harder than the female cyborg thought it would have been, and this was after having to go through near faultless planning to infiltrate the resistance, it didn't help that she had a five foot two blonde following her that hadn't been there before. Smiling kindly at a security guard that was now walking around the waiting room, Cameron walked past him with an air of confidence not thinking he'd attempt to stop either of them from going further into the hospital; and it wasn't like this was a mission where she ended to steal something or someone was meant to die.

Having been on edge since the brunette had turned up at her house, where she got the address from Claire had no idea not having told John where she lived; and told her that he was in hospital in a critical condition, she'd been running through different scenarios that could have had him put there. The problem was apart from the end of the world and John's life in five minutes as well as counting her brief encounter with a machine from the future, Claire wasn't sure what she should expect; he was clearly well trained having flipped her under him and pinned her to his bed, had a gun in his room as well as having his mum, uncle and very own cyborg that came back in time to protect him. How something could have gone wrong, clearly meant it was big.

"Stay here," watching as Cameron walked over to a medical storage cupboard, not once looking over her shoulder to see if her order was being followed, Claire became increasingly worried that someone would walk past like a doctor or nurse and want to know what she was doing before kicking her out. Any worries she had seemed to be out of place however, when her companion returned within a minute carrying an empty blood bag, a needle and a rubber tube. "His room's this was." Once again falling behind the other female, and having another piece to the puzzle without knowing what the full picture was meant to be Claire found herself becoming more confused and wondering what her life would have been liked if she had never spoken to John that day.

That train of thought was cut off when they walked into the room she took for granted John was staying in, Claire froze as she saw his near lifeless form on the bed; with the fact that the weather having got worse as the day went on, the lights in the room illuminated his features making her wish that Cameron had told her what he would look like. In what appeared to be indifference to how he looked, the female cyborg made her way over to his bed before staring down at his face that despite the severe bruising seemed to look at peace.

Placing the items she had taken on John's chest, Cameron turned just stared at the fact Claire had stayed at the back of the room looking hesitant to get closer to him.

"He requires your help," turning to look at the brunette, disbelief etched on her face; she found it hard to believe that he needed _her_ help never mind the fact that she had no idea how she'd be able to. Finding herself unconsciously moving to the other side of the bed, looking down at him just laying there on what looked to be the knife edge between life and death, it didn't take her long before she had to look away, the fact that it was someone she knew and was probably the only person that actually got her was breaking her heart. Teary azure eyes found brown ones that seemed to hold more sadness then they should have been capable of.

"I don't know how to help him," Claire's voice came out desperate like Cameron knew how she would be able to help but wasn't telling her, and it seemed to be close to the truth as before she could blink there was a stinging sensation going down her forearm. Jerking backwards and away from the bed, she looked down at her arm at the small trail of blood from a cut that had already healed before for the second time in the space of two minutes her gaze found Cameron once again, only this time she was holding onto the needle she had taken, a small sliver of blood on the tip of it.

"Your blood has regenerative properties," the single sentence held the reason why Claire had been told about John's condition, why she was brought to the hospital and why Cameron thought she could save him. Looking at the expectant gaze of the female in front of her before down at the male this was all about, if it wasn't for their friendship, the fact that she had trusted him more than anyone else, did trust him more than anyone else; then it was the fact that John had knowingly put his life at risk to save hers, that caused her to hold her arm out towards Cameron.

Wasting no time in finding a vein, a sharper more vicious stabbing feeling as the needle once again punctured the skin, before being held apart for the tubing to be placed in the hole before her body had time to heal, Claire watched as Cameron removed the needle from John's arm that was connected to the half full blood bag before rapidly replacing it with the one in her hands. And then came the waiting game as both females took the seats either side of the bed. Watching as the dark red fluid travel down the tubing and into John, neither was sure how long this would take as one of them had never tried to use their blood to help someone else and the other had only a brief explanation and one demonstration about her being able to heal.

"Are you sure this will work?" Claire had to asked, and the look she got in return told her that if it didn't there was a good chance she'd be the one ending up on the bed.

- - -

_"Aaarrggghh!" John's tortured scream echoed around the house as he fell off of Cameron and onto the floor, the small part of his mind that was able to function through the pain knew that it was at the worst time as well, with her having been unbuttoning his jeans. He didn't know what the problem was but it felt like someone or something was electrocuting him for fun, writhing against the floor from the pain as well as a futile attempt to try and send whatever it was through the floor; he wasn't aware of Cameron rushing to his side not knowing what was happening to him._

_"John?" touching his chest as he continued to shake and whimper through the pain, she had no idea what she should do in the situation, he'd been fine one minute, more than fine; and the next started to convulse before toppling to the floor and screaming. Unsure if she should try to move him somewhere, anywhere, all Cameron found herself able to do was pick his head and shoulder up and lay them against her legs, holding him as tight to her as she could without worrying about putting him in more pain. "John, you have to wake up," she whispered tears falling from her eyes as she watching his own flutter before rolling into the back of his head, his body convulsing hard enough for her leg to start shaking slightly._

_A soft and yet pained filled whisper escaped him as his head bounced off of her leg as it started to rolled from side to side, it didn't fill her with confidence when it took in a choking breath before his body fell limp._

_- - -_

Having taken his un-bandaged hand in her own after sitting down, and watching as the bruising slowly faded from his face before the swelling went down returning to its more familiar and pleasant shape, Cameron felt a burst of what she took as human called anticipation when John started to squeeze her hand. Something that as the seconds ticked by and the steady beeping of the heart monitor behind her got stronger might have had her releasing with the grip getting tighter as an after effect, the choking breath that seemed to fill the room had her standing up from the chair and hovering over him, watching and waiting as his eyes started to flicker open.

"Cameron?"


	14. Chapter 14

Watching as the two hazy green eyes slowly came into focus on her face, Cameron was hit with the inexplicable urge to kiss him now that he was no longer in a coma, switching her gaze from John to the teary eyed Claire who was grinning; she froze tilting her head at the other girl not knowing why she was both crying and smiling when the emotions for both of those actions contradicted the other. Any further silent examination of her was cut short by the male on the bed, who let out a strangled cough before trying to sit up in the bed, a small and yet impossibly strong hand pushed him back down all too aware that his skin was still a near deathly white and his eyes were wide, blinking rapidly trying to force his surroundings back into focus quicker.

"Where am I?" sounding like his voice hadn't been used in years, John was feeling like he'd been hit by a truck. A pissed off truck that wanted to kill him, he was trying to sort through the images flashing through his head and the light above his bed trying to blind him wasn't helping. Letting his eyes close again as the pillows behind him framed his face now that he was laying back down, he never saw a set of azure eyes flash to his terminator protector while her own deep brown eyes stayed glued to him.

"You're in hospital John," Cameron's voice coming out gently in the room knowing how close she'd been to losing him. The thought stopped her from saying anything else as she went over it, it wasn't that she had nearly failed her mission that worried her but the fact that she had nearly lost _him_. "Cromartie turned up at the house, I doubt know how he managed to find you but we'll need to move. Canada will be the safest choice for us." Watching as he frowned at her comment her initial, her first thought was that he was still in some type of pain, which according to her scans there was every chance of him being in even with is body now being healed thanks to the blonde on the other side of the bed. Keeping his eyes closed John wanted to wince against the feeling of being hit in the head with a hammer for every second that his eyes were open, Cromartie was at their house. He could vaguely remember the deadly cyborg following him through the tree line and almost breaking him in two when he charged through him, but it didn't make any sense. At the same time he could remember being in the house with Cameron. Safe, alone, happy. That couldn't have just been a dream; it had felt too real, _she_ had felt too real.

Opening his eyes again, this time looking around the room. John's gaze fell to the blonde sitting on one side of his bed, rubber tubing embedded in her arm and connected to his own, he didn't need to be a genius just yet to know that she had saved his life much like he had done for Derek. With a near undetectable grunt he turned his head to look at Cameron, who was standing next to his bed; there was something in her eyes that he couldn't place. It didn't take long for a smile to form o her face, whether it was real or she wanted to make it seem like now he was awake everything was better now was answered as he watched her take his hand in her own and run her thumb across his knuckles. Canada. Running away, again. It was too familiar for him, his whole life had been spent running from enemies that weren't there, it was only over the past few months that they had been there; constantly gaining on him no matter how fast he ran, with the T-1001 being in ZeriaCorp it made things harder than they already were.

"I need to talk to Claire," he didn't need to be looking at her to know the confusion that was etched in her eyes. The jealousy that he was taking a wild stab in the dark that she felt when he spent time with someone that wasn't her, might have been cute if he weren't in a life or death situation. After a few seconds of staring at John, Cameron stood up and started walking towards the door taking the none too subtle hint that he wanted to talk to the blonde alone, pausing at the door to turn back and look at the pair of them before she stepped outside the room before closing the door behind her. Pressing her back against the wall next to the door, Cameron let a small smile form on her face; John had insinuated that he wanted her to leave the room but not that she couldn't listen to the conversation.

"Are you ok?" Claire asked, speaking for the first time since he'd woken up, if she was honest she was starting to feel tired and slightly dizzy but until he was back to the way he had been before or said anything to her about it, she wasn't going to take out the tube; having no idea just how bad he'd been. "You head me worried," a sad smile forming on her face as a bitter one did the same on John's, he was used to making people worried about him and also worrying that people he cared about were going to die; his mum, Derek, Cameron.

"Happens all the time," neither of them laughed at his attempt of a joke with the dead look in his eyes as he was no longer looking at her, but staring into nothing like she'd seen him do before. "It's not safe for you Claire," the way he let his head slowly swivel to look at her after talking made him look like he only had minutes to live and was about to tell her some deep secret, the bemusement on her face was expected. "Staying around me, it's not safe." Letting out a snort of laughed as she looked at him, she knew it wasn't safe around him; both of them had nearly been killed since they came back into each other's lives, granted his death would have been a bit more permanent. "I'm _always_ going to be hunted by machines sent through time. They need me to be some type of hero, to save the world." His statement was followed by a bitter laugh escaping John having heard the news about the explosion that happened in New York, something about a gas leak underground that had casued it; the world he came from he hadn't believed a word of it. "I have to accept that I'll never have a normal life, never be allowed to have one. But you don't have to follow me to hell. Not if I can stop it."

"You want me to what? Walk out that door and act like I've never known you?" blue eyes bore into green as Claire knew that was exactly what John was telling her to do. "You vanished from my life once before. Before I knew who you are, what you have to do. How can I sit there every day and wonder if you're alive or dead, if a machine has managed to kill you?" turning away as he listened to her voice take on the same desperate tone that Cameron's had when he and his mum trapped her between two trucks.

"They've been trying for over sixteen years and haven't done it yet, experience is on my side." Sighing as he tried to think of the best way to do this, something that was hard since he'd never had any experience with saying goodbye to people, John let his head turn back to look at her. "This can be the goodbye I didn't give you last time," watching as her own eyes snapped up from the floor to stare at him, the look on Claire's face took him back to the day he acted like he'd never known who she was. Broken. Sad. Crying inside. They both knew the gesture of him saying goodbye to her while sincere was more than him saying bye to her for now, it was the knowledge that John knew there was more than a good chance he wasn't going to survive his mission no matter what he said to her; and this was him saying goodbye, possibly forever.

"If I have to leave, can you tell me one thing? My dad, foster dad sent the Haitian to wipe your memory. What happened?" sighing as he turned away from her to look up at the ceiling, John knew it was an easy question to answer and after everything she deserved to know the truth about the night he decided to act like she was nothing to him. The night the human race was nearly fucked over because her adopted dad thought her secret was worth trying to take his memory from him.

_Turning to look back down the hallway listening to what could have been the most annoying sound known to man as his for the time being mother shouted something up at him, John groaned as he fingered the small shark tooth necklace that was hidden in his shirt. Something had happened at Homecoming, he knew that much from the police cares that had been around the school, he'd watched them turn up from the protection the shadows of the trees gave him; there was too much of a risk that they were there for him. He hadn't even waited for Claire. Couldn't wait for her. In the sheer panic that had resulted from the police being at the otherwise quite school he managed to slip away unnoticed, the .45 colt resting on the inside of his jacket almost burning a hole through the black t-shirt he had on._

_Claire, she was something no matter what he couldn't pull away from. He was drawn to her like a moth to the flame or was that the other way around. She was beautiful, gorgeous he knew that, but that wasn't the reason he first let her think she managed to worm herself into his life and being his friend; it was the secret she had and the fact she couldn't keep it to herself. Something he didn't have the luxury of. But if that was the reason she was a part of the life he made for himself here then why had he convinced everyone that was considered a freak to vote her in as the homecoming queen? Because of what Jackie had said about him during the few months he'd been there? Hardly._

_Flicking the dead bolt he put on the door, John didn't have any time to react to the two large hands that were suddenly at either side of his temple dragging him further back into the room. His feet trying to dig into the floor to stop himself from being taken any further away from the easiest escape route, before he tried to free himself; John nearly went limp when it felt like he'd just been stabbed in the head. Losing the ability to swallow as his body seemed to go into shock before shaking violently almost as if there was electricity following through him and that was what it felt like, he was shoved forward slightly; stumbling to where he stood before his attacker had grabbed him. Breathing heavily as the thin trail of saliva dropped down to his chin, he spun around grabbing the gun from the inside of his jacket; aiming at the head of the large African. _

_"What the fuck are you?" the question was not what the Haitian had thought was going to happen, nor was the boy still being on his feet; his gift was meant to leave them unconscious after he took the memories he needed to, but something had gone wrong. The teen hadn't lost his memory, and with him having a gun pointed at him wasn't as defenceless as Noah had thought he was. "How did Skynet know I was going to be here?" if the first question had told the Haitian that he hadn't been able to take the memory of Claire's only friend, then the second was more than enough proof that there was something going on that he hadn't been told about._

_"Claire's father sent me," the heavily accented voice didn't seem to fit the man as it came out soft, almost friendly. The next question was clear on John's face making the man speak again before it was voice, "you know about her gift." The narrowing of green eyes into small slits as the gun didn't waiver from being pointed at his head, "She can heal." Taking a step towards John more than convinced that his size advantage over the boy would allow him to knock the gun away and try to wipe his memory once again. That plan was destroyed when the trigger was pulled back and a bullet flew past the Haitian's head by a centimetre hitting the window frame behind him._

_"The next one doesn't miss," moving the gun imperceptibly to where the next shot fired would hit the other male, John was waiting for the footsteps to come running up the stairs and see what the noise was. "I'll take a guess and say unlike Claire, you won't be getting back up if you die." Eyes never leaving the male that was in his room, safe in the knowledge that this couldn't have a Terminator because it would have come right at him. He learned a long time ago to not trust anyone and by the looks of things that little lesson was coming back to bite him in the ass. "You have five seconds to leave."_

_"She needs to think you've forgot about her and her gift." Tilting his head to the side waiting for the punch line to the crap joke, John was having a hard time believing that Claire's dad sent whoever this was to do whatever it was he was going to do to people if they found out his daughter could heal. It wasn't like he had a lot of people to tell anyway and no one in this town that would believe him, he was an outcast who had made no attempt to have any friends until a pretty little cheerleader started talking to him. "She's in danger if people know what she can do." _

_"She's in danger?" John asked sarcastically, by the looks of things she had her own private bodyguard who was there to make sure nothing happened to her because she could heal, that was hardly carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. The two males stared at each waiting for the other to be the first one to either say or do something, anything. Eyes flashing down to the pistol in his hands, John knew it was him that would need to be the first to say anything to break the deadlock between the two otherwise he doubted whether his room would be free from would be attackers. "I can keep a secret, I can live a lie." That was all the older man needed from him, without so much as a nod from him he turned towards the window he climbed through and left the room as silently as he came in. _

_Dropping the gun onto his bed and covering it quickly with his pillow, John made his way across the room, fingering the bullet hole in the window pane. It'd been a long time since he took a shot at a person, but only being fifteen years old that long time wasn't nearly long enough for someone that was meant to be enjoying life. Walking over to the chest of drawers that were lined up against the wall near his bed, John grabbed hold on the handle and with a violent yank tore it out, letting it drop to the floor behind him. Dropping to his knees as he started to probe the dark gab that was now there for all to see, it didn't take long for his hand to find the long piece of canvas that was in there, a more careful pull this time; looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was going to try and knock his door down because of the noise that was coming from his room. It didn't take long for him to bring the large red duffle bag out._

_A tiny padlock attached to the zip was quickly removed, and items that weren't of any use were dropped out of it, jeans, t-shirts, shirts, boots. If anyone managed to get into his room it'd look like he was getting ready to run for it, in a way he might have been. Seconds that seemed to drag on forever until his hand found the small phone that was hidden away in there, flipping it open and letting out both a sigh of relief and disappointment that there weren't any messages or missed calls on it. Dialling the number he'd memorized as soon as the other phone was one, John could only wait; listening to the recorded message that went on for too long with her inability to understand she could have hung up by now, he punched in the three digit code on his phone that was the signal for her. He was in danger and he needed her to come so he could leave._

Turning to gauge her reaction to what he told her about that night, John was met with a slightly blank stare, he guessed that he couldn't have really have expected anything else; there was more than a small chance Claire had been wondering what had led to him leaving Odessa and even after telling her the brief outline to his departure back at his house, this was different. Eyes flicking to the door certain that he'd seen someone walking past it, or moving towards the wall near it, he wondered if the blonde had turned comatose, if she had she'd need the bed more then he would after today.

"He told me that he couldn't give you your memory back, that his gift didn't allow him to do that." Now looking back at John and not the wall that had captured her attention while he'd been talking to her, her eyes narrowed on the aloof expression on his face before falling back to the floor, even when he'd been telling her about the circumstances there hadn't been any emotion shown. "He couldn't give what he didn't take," anything else she was going to say was cut short by the pained gasp, eyes snapping back to him; Claire could only watch as he slowly pulled the rubber tubing out of his arm, face contorted in discomfort, Cameron had put it too far in. It was only as she watched her blood now flowing through it and onto his arm, pooling into the hole there causing the blood to congeal before the puncture vanished completely did she remember that she had the other half still in her arm. "So what now? You'll just leave the hospital; go back to fighting this war no one knows anything about?" removing her own tubing, the cut healing quicker on her body then her male companion's did.

"We'll probably need to get some supplies, meet up with my uncle, sell the house and vanish in the night." Climbing out of the bed, but finding he had to quickly grab hold of it to steady himself, it dawned on John that he was wearing nothing under the thin hospital trousers he'd been put in. Smiling at the modesty shown by him as he quickly moved to make sure that the light didn't show anything, Claire nodded once before she started walking towards the door ready to lead the two of them out of the room. "When you get out there, tell Cameron to let my mum to meet us outside in the car." Turning back at what seemed to be bizarre instructions he continued, "I can't just walk out of the front door after I was near death the last time someone checked on me Claire." Turing to one of the windows that lined the far wall on his room, John watched her reflection in the glass as she acted like he was preparing to open one of them. "For what it's worth," speaking once again just as her hand hovered above the door handle, John made sure the two of them had eye contact even if it was with their reflections. "If I wasn't John Connor, if all of this didn't exist and I stayed in Odessa. I would have fallen in love with you."

Standing frozen as he went back to looking out the windows, Claire didn't know if she wanted to laugh and say that she had an idea all along or scream and hit him for saying that after telling her she had to leave. In the end she gave him a watery smile before walking out of the room, only half surprised to see Cameron standing against near a set of chairs slightly further down the corridor near an office were families could arrange to stay the night if they wanted to. Watching as the brunette started to walk towards her with a purpose, she was ready to tell her the instructions John had; but she didn't stop and went straight into his room.

"Just how much of that were you listening to?" no anger or accusation in his tone, but rather inquisitiveness to know how long they had before his mum started to wonder what was taking so long, as he waited for any reply from her. The only other sound that could be heard in the room was the small rustling from his bandages that had been wrapped around his stomach falling to the floor. Turning to see the cyborg protector that he was in love with, staring back at him her eyes holding an indecisiveness that for some reason gave her an adorable look as she wrestled with telling him.

"To the point where you said what you needed me to tell Sarah." A small smile formed on John's face as he watched her continue to just stand there. Slowly her head cocked to the side as she took in his body, examining what would be called a _miraculous _ recovery no doubt having wondered just how quickly Claire's regenerative properties would take effect. Eyes never leaving his as she closed the distance between them, her small hand slowly trailed from the band of the trousers he was being forced to wear and up across his stomach were she had scanned the worst of his injuries to have been, before resting over his heart. It was giving off a strong steady beat that reassured Cameron he wasn't going to collapse to the floor anytime soon, no matter what his paler colour might have indicated, eyes dropping down to his chest and glowing that ethereal blue as she felt his heat speed up slightly worried her. After that he'd just been through and even with Claire's blood healing him, she was concerned about the strain that it would have on his body.

Grinning slightly at the puzzled frown on her face, John slowly lifted a finger and curled it under her chin before picking her head back up. The frown that had been on Cameron's face faded into a shy smile as his face drew closer to her own, unable to stop the smile from forming into a smirk as he felt her press her body against his, the warmth of it going against the coldness that had filled his body from laying on the bed. Pressing her palm flat against his chest, as her other hand wrapped around the back of his neck, her fingers threading through this short slightly spiky hair.

In the back of his mind he was able to file away that her lips and tongue tasted of cherry, the reason for it clearly wasn't that important as his train of thought had allowed Cameron to have total control over the kiss. Having no idea how she seemed to have that much tongue as it happily slid around his mouth and over his own rapidly turning his brain to mush. Thoughts of trying to establish any type of control of his own as he attempted to return the passion in the kiss, flew out of his hand as her nails raked down his back causing a shiver that had nothing to do with the coldness of the room. Not knowing where Cameron had come up with the enthusiasm that she was currently displaying, with it having normally been him that led things between them; John was barely able to swap their bodies around when he felt his foot press against the wall.

Even when the chilly glass pane of the window pressed against the skin that wasn't covered, Cameron's skin felt like it was on fire and she had no intention of letting go of the sole person that her focus was on, he was the one that was able to bring these sensations out of her and she wanted to show him what that meant to her. Allowing her nails to once again drag down his shoulder blade and over the curve of his spine, feeling what she'd later know was relish as his body for the second time shook because of it; aware that it wasn't only him that could generate that reaction from his touch. Once her hand reached the base of his spine, her thumb hooked onto the waistband making sure she kept some type of skin contact between the two of them as she brought her hand around the front before dragging him towards her once again. All too conscious of the reaction his body was having to both being this close to her and her brazen teasing and manipulating of his body, as well as knowing that there was no chance Cameron didn't know what she was doing to him, if the trousers that might as well have been made out of paper weren't enough of a clue then her grinding against him like she was trying to start a fire was.

Feeling her body mould against his as she was now pressed between him and the window, John tore his mouth away from hers with some difficulty as she tried to pull him back to her three times in quick succession. Flashes of when she nearly attacked him in the car, even if he hadn't complained flashed through his mind's eye quickly, John started to trail a series of kisses down the side of her jaw, stopping for a split second as Cameron turned her head to the side revealing more of her neck to him. Chuckling at the fact that she was determined to let him what she wanted, continuing his path as he now started to kiss across her neck he was met with a small sigh; biting down on the skin gently he was met with a soft gasp this time. As his hand started to snake its way over and up the top Cameron was wearing, John found himself and by extension Cameron moving backwards once again, with a series of short steps he found the back of his legs pressing against the edge of the bed he'd been on minutes earlier; it was a firm push that finally landed him on top of it.

Before he had time to react to his new placement, the brown eyed female in the room was climbing onto the bed and on top of him; the similarities between the affection and apparent playfulness that she was showing was reminiscent of what he'd seen of her when he was in the coma. The body that should have been making it near impossible for him to have her stretched out on him in the manner she was, was unbearably soft and undeniably feminine; enough so to make any thoughts about them needing to leave to be thrown into a far corner of his mind and mocked. Claiming her mouth in his own once again, as his hands this time found the bottom of her shirt and removed it without any hesitation and no Cameron deciding that they needed to move around the room once again. Letting the garment drop the floor next to the bed, John was ready to taste that skin that seemed to glow due to the flickering bulb. That was before one of the most annoying sounds known to man filled the room. The shrill ringing of her mobile phone.

"It's Sarah," Cameron told him, holding the phone near her face while balancing her body with one hand on his shoulder, the fact that she hadn't crushed the bones there was a testament to the control Skynet allowed its creations to have. Dusky green eyes looking back up at her said that he didn't care if it was the president himself, they could be called back; however his cyborg protector didn't seem to pick up on the hint or was suddenly back to _'protect John mode'. _"John," trying to sit up in the bed but finding himself being pushed back down he stared up at her hoping she was as good at lying as she had been before the car explosion. "His body still needs time to heal even with Claire's help, we're on the way to the car." Removing herself from both the bed and him, Cameron hung up the phone before picking her shirt up off of the floor and re-buttoning it before turning to look at John. "We need to leave."

- - -

Sitting in the still ruined office, the T-1001 disguised as the head of ZeriaCorp stared at the small piece of tech that would bring about Judgement day. Problems had formed both before she acquired it and after, John Connor and his T0K were trying to find it, there was also the matter that she didn't know how she would be able to give the Turk a consciousness before 11th April 2011; something that if either of them got their hands on it would mean the end for Skynet in this time. Eyes slowly rising from the small object to stare at the glass that had been shattered when she tossed her creator's greatest failure through the doors, pieces to the puzzle started to fall into place.

Her own chip had already stored that John had almost broken her office door down to rescue his protector, the reasoning behind the act was still something that was confusing her. Her files on human psychology told her that such an act was because the rescuing party had feelings for the one who was in danger, tilting her head slightly to the side as the information was being processed and results being sent back to her; and everything pointed to one thing. Love. This John Connor was in love with the Terminator he called Cameron. A weak and useless emotion that often resulted in humans acting irrationally to save the one that held their affection.

Turning to look out of the large glass windows that were coated in rain from the storm that was beating down on the city, her enhanced vision allowed her to watch people on the street below her to scurry about in the rain trying to get home or somewhere safe. Memories of the day were she could have destroyed both the T0K and killed Connor; she had the weaker machine by the throat and then. _'I'll never help you get to John Connor.'_ Mouth opening slightly, the same reaction someone might have had if the secrets of the world were revealed to them. The terminator that was sent back to protect him had grown attached to the boy; she had a desire to stay with him as much as it was to keep him safe, while other models, ones more equipped for fighting would have stayed and tried to destroy her even after Connor had broken through the door; she scrambled out of her grasp and to him.

Picking the Turk up and leaving her office, a malicious smile on her face, Weaver started walking towards the lift that would take her to the basement and were she previously had people working on trying to unlock the part of the machine that housed Skynet. Of course after their failure she had killed them all and tried to understand the Turk herself to the same level of success they had. It didn't matter anymore, even in the future none of the older models that hadn't been destroyed by Connor and his Tech-Com or captured and reprogrammed didn't have the intelligence to inform anyone on how Skynet became self aware. Staring at the doors with a dead look in her eyes as she waited for it to reach the basement that now only she had access to, cradling the small object in her arm like a baby as she stepped out and started walking down the unlit hallway; she came to a full stop at what seemed to be a random point. Turning and placing her hand on the wall before lowering it slightly, a slight click was heard as the hidden door opened up allowing her to walk into the room.

Servers encased in glass lined the back wall of the room, but that wasn't what the Terminator's attention was one. Standing idly in the centre of the room where three men two bent forward slightly appearing that were asleep standing up while the third turned to look at her, he had been forced to wait in here for the past three hours with no understanding as to why. Watching as she picked up two small rectangular objects up in her hand as she placed the Turk down and walked over to his companions, peeling away a section of skin and hair at the side of their heads, revealing chrome metal underneath that shone in the light of the room. Fingers that turned into a liquid metal before solidifying into a sharper point as they removed shock dampeners and placing one of the objects in her hand into either head before patting the skin back down loosely.

"John Connor is terminated." The male that hadn't been unconscious spoke staring at her never moving from his spot, his comment went unheard by Weaver who stood inches in front of one of the men that were now lifting their heads to look up around the room, before walking over to the remaining one and repeating the same actions. "I disabled the terminator code name Cameron that was sent back to keep him safe and killed him myself." Watching as she now turned around to look at him, the smile that formed on her face too wide to have ever come from a human, he felt no fear as she walked over to him; the smile never leaving her mouth even if her eyes promised slow death to anyone that crossed her.

"Really? You believe John Connor to be dead?" there was no reply to her question as she continued to glare at him. "He is not so easily killed otherwise Skynet would have been able to kill him in the future. No, this one refuses to die, and until I see his lifeless body in front of me I will continue to believe that he lives and is just as determined to destroy Skynet before it can cause Judgement day." Turning away from the machine that she had just told his attempted had failed, like they always did. Weaver looked at the other two terminators that were staring at the three of them intently. "I have a mission for the three of you. After the failed attempt on Connor's life he'll be getting ready to once again leave. You have a limited time to act if the T0K isn't going to wait for him to be fully recovered before demanding they flee and stay hidden. Your friend," turning to look at the cyborg behind her, "knows where Connor lives. You are to bring back his terminator protector." Slowly the other terminators blinked not understanding why the mission wasn't to kill John Connor. "You will leave _him_ unharmed." Staring at the three of them as they left the room that they had been stored in the T-1001 found her gaze being drawn to the Turk, the smile forming back on her face as she knew that it was only a matter of time now.

- - -

Eyes flashing to the back of the car once again, where both John and Cameron were sitting, in her attention too close to each other for her liking. After having come out to hug her son when he made his way down the now un-used fire escape ladder on the side of the hospital, Sarah had been forced to pretend that she hadn't felt or seen the fresh scratches down his back that shouldn't have been there after Claire's help. It hadn't stopped her anger from growing having spotted red marks down the side of the machines neck, if it wouldn't have gotten the police involved she would have taken gun and unloaded the clip on the female when she stopped, both indications as to the real reason why it had taken them so long after Claire had already left the hospital.

Being able to sense the older woman's gaze of her through the rear-view mirror, Cameron took her eyes off of John who had his head resting against the back of the seat, colour slowly returning to his skin. Seeing the half challenge in the green eyes that stared at her, she slowly repositioned herself from merely sitting next to her charge to resting her head gently on his shoulder, as she tried to nestle into his side as her arm wrapped around the front of his stomach. In what could have been the icing on the cake for her actions, she felt the male that the unspoken battle was about slump in his seat slightly before turning his body and allowing his cheek and the side of his face rest of the top of her head, a content sigh escaping his mouth.

Resisting the urge to slam on the brakes and send the two of them forwards and away from the others embrace, Sarah couldn't help but wish Derek was in the car with them, his reaction to the display in the back seat would have been enough to possibly scare John from touching anyone ever again. Instead she had to settle for once again cutting off cars on their way back to the house, from what had all but been paraded in front of her there was no way she was going to leave her son in nothing but hospital trousers around Cameron, machine or not there was something unsettling in the way she looked at him when she didn't think anyone was watching them; possessiveness, concern, adoration all shined in her eyes.

"John!" the annoyance in the voice not hidden as he was jarred away from the sleep that his body was craving, "go and get changed, me and _her_ will get what weapons we can. Be ready to leave in five minutes, we'll phone Derek once we're away from here." Having parked as close to the house as she could to stop him from being drenched as he ran to the house, Sarah watched him vanish into the darkness with only the faint hope that Cromartie or no other terminator was laying in wait inside the house to take the rest of them out. Looking in the rear-view mirror once again to see Cameron staring back at her, her face once again a blank mask as she stared at the older woman waiting for her to say something to her. "Go into the shed, try and find something that's not ruined that'll help; I'll check the house for ammunition." Not for the first time the female cyborg climbed out of the car without a word and started to walk back to the shed, the rain making her look like a drowned rat with in seconds once again, carefully stepping around the pieces of broken wood that littered the floor the first thing she tried to find was the metal that she had been carrying earlier in the day as well as the radioactive isotope.

Tossing the blue trousers at the wall now that they felt slimly as well as the fact he thought they might have dissolved in the rain, John rushed around the room to get underwear before someone decided to walk into his room and find him naked. A t-shirt, black jeans and his hoody were quickly dragged out of the wardrobe and thrown on with all the grace of a drunken dancer trying to impress people at a party, stopping himself from barrelling down the stairs and out the front door; he slowly walked over to the chest of drawers and this time let out a sigh of relief seeing the .45 ACP sitting there on a stack of books he'd never read. Walking to the door and snatching his leather jacket off of the hanger off of the hook on the back of it, using it to cover the gun in his hands, he stopped at the top of the stairs ready once again to leave another life behind.

Watching as the brunette carried armfuls of metal to the car before dropping them into the small trunk pushing them as far back as she could before returning to the shed, this time not returning for a few minutes but when she did looking like a female Rambo with guns clinging to her body. No matter what she wasn't going to be impressed by the thing that with everyday was taking her son further away from her and to what Sarah saw as his inevitable death, no she was going to stop this now.

"The way you look at him, stop it." Having placed her body in front of the door that Cameron had been walking over to, she knew that if she had this talk with John he'd ignore everything she had and draw closer to her, from what she'd been able to tell he was too much like a Reese in that regard. When someone told him to do something he went and did the opposite. "He's sixteen; the way you look do you really think he has any control of his body around you. But your chip lets you keep control over yours, it lets you come up with the responses it says you should have, so whatever it is that's going on with you and _my son_ end it now. And go back to trying to protect him." hearing the front door slam shut, a clear sign that John had seen how close the two of them were and knew something was going on that he wouldn't like. Sarah started walking back around to the front of the car.

"I only listen to what John tells me." Stopping as she looked over her shoulder at Cameron who didn't seem to care every part of her was soaked through; she continued to hold the other woman's gaze. "You and Derek would die to make sure John was safe, but I'd kill you both to ensure that, and that's why I can protect him better then you could." Slipping into the car as she saw the male they were talking about drawing closer to the 4 x 4 slowing his pace to make it seem like he wasn't trying to listen to what they were saying. "And none of the reactions by body has because of John are fake." A smug smile formed on her face when she watched Sarah try to melt her through the mirror from the look she was giving from her loaded statement.


	15. Chapter 15

Watching his mum drive down the gravel path cautious even with the underlining urgency, John was trying his best to ignore the tension in the car, something that while not new when either his sole parent or uncle were around Cameron; but it seemed to be thicker now, almost strangling him. It didn't help that neither female in the car was saying anything, Sarah staring straight ahead gripping the steering wheel until her knuckles were white, and his bodyguard looking out of the window; he didn't know if it would be safe to try and be the one that broke the silence that had surrounded them; flashing both women a look from the corner of his eye before turning to stare out of the opposite window, the faint stinging sensation in his stomach was enough to put him off from talking to either of them.

Green eyes flicking up to the rear-view mirror to stare at the sixteen year old sitting in the backseat looking like he'd just had his toy stolen from him, snapping her gaze to the other side of the seat and the cyborg that was staring intently out of the window she once again felt her anger and irritation build up. The last comment from the piece of scrap metal about her and John had been enough for her to do what Derek had been saying since he joined the three of them, it was only the fact that John had been feet from the car and would have no doubt not only stopped her from doing anything but also taken the metals side that swayed Sarah's hand. Sensing someone watching her Cameron once again turned her head slightly to stare back at the older woman, no trace of the smug like that had graced her face minutes before but the expressionless stare that made it appear she wasn't all there if she had been a human. The look changed as quickly as it ever had, going from disinterest to one of alarm and shock within in split second.

"Mom!" the all too familiar tone in John's voice had Sarah spinning back to the front of the car, almost in a twisted type of déjà vu standing less than ten meters in front of the 4 x 4 was Cromartie unflinching as the vehicle got closer to him with each second. Wanting and needing to avoid a repeat of the last time they were in a car trying to escape the deadly machines from the future, she turned the wheel sharply sending the car into the slight ditch that separated the road from the tree line but kept it from tipping over, slamming her foot down on the pedal satisfied that Cromartie hadn't moved from his position out of arms reach of them as they drew closer. A gunshot, a gasp and glass shattering were the next three sounds that were heard, not being able to take the chance to look in the back of the car to make sure John was fine, determined to get as much power out of the Dodge as she could. Tyres squealing as they hit the road once again the extra grip of concrete and tar under them sending the 4 x 4 sailing past the stationary terminator who merely turned to watch as the trio flew past.

"Are you ok?" only now did Sarah allow her eyes to travel up to the rear-view mirror to make sure the terminators were chasing them, not being able to see either her son or what was arguably his best protection sitting there wasn't something that surprised her. "John!" hearing a slight grunt which was followed by the smallest amount of movement coming from between the floor of the car and the seat; it was only when she narrowed her eyes still having gotten an answer to her question did it click in her head that it was a body hovering above the floor and a pair of legs wrapped around the waist.

"Yeah," John's reply was followed by laboured breathing as he looked up at the seat from his position more than aware of how uncomfortable it was. "I'm fine." The confirmation was enough for his mum who once again sped the car back up, leaving her son to stare at the reason he was where he was. Having spotted a second terminator coming through the tree line at the same time his mum had been using her suicidal driving skills, he'd tossed himself at Cameron trying to take her out of the firing range, succeeding by knocking her halfway down and under the window; however the momentum had bounced John off of her and would have sent him sprawling to the floor, that was if his cyborg's impossibly mile long legs hadn't wrapped around him at the last second preventing him from going any further; all without her having moved from her new position. Slowly being allowed to rest of the floor of the car before picking himself back up and return to the seat with as much dignity that he could muster. "You think they know we're leaving?" he asked sarcastically turning to look at the broken window before turning his gaze to his mum who had a faint smile on her face that betrayed the worry which was radiating off of her.

"It's highly unlikely that Cromartie was aware you were still alive after his attack, the chances are greater that he believed his mission to be a success and was returning to terminate both Sarah Connor and Derek Reese." The monotone reply came from the only one in the car that still didn't under sarcasm or a rhetorical question, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at her continued show of her naivety having seen his mum do the same thing; John merely smiled at her before turning to look out of the back window of the car, the same hope that they weren't being followed. "There was a third terminator that stayed hidden on the opposite side of the road, there's a chance that they have also scanned the licence plate of the car. It'll make tracking us easier." Keeping her eyes on John as she spoke, the speed that her charge's would be killer arrived back near the house to kill both Sarah and Derek was something that she hadn't put into account, she had warned them that this would happen but had thought they'd have longer to get away.

"Ditch the car, find somewhere to stay and phone Derek." Breaking down the plan that was no doubt forming in her head John continued staring forwards watching as Sarah continued darting the car in-between traffic in their attempt to get as far away from the house as quickly as possible. If the broken car window didn't attract any attention then flying through the fifth red light in a row would, however the necessity of the recklessness of his mum's driving stopped John from saying anything; and having been in the car when Cameron was driving before knew all about her ignorance of the rules of the road. It was only after spotting any alleyway that was large enough to store the car did Sarah turn into it, driving in far enough to make it hard for other vehicles to see them unless they tried to turn in as well, did she climb out of the car and walk along the narrow alleyway to the side John was sitting at; opening the door and helping him out. Mindful that for whatever reason, even after being given a small amount of Claire's blood there were still a number of lingering after effects from the attack flowing through her son.

"We're going to have to be quick with this," she spoke making sure that John was steady on his feet, even with his slim build he was still the widest out of the three of them and the alley didn't allow him to walk dead on. "Who's going to try and get a new car?" the question was answered almost instantaneously as her son's head turned in the opposite direction, settling on Cameron who was busily shovelling the guns and materials she had brought from the shed into two duffel bags. If it had been anyone else doing it, Sarah would have thought that the other female hadn't and couldn't have heard them, but it wasn't a lie that the cyborg was better than them in nearly everywhere. "If she kills or attacks a driver John we-"

"She won't." Jumping to Cameron's defence before his mum finished her sentence wasn't something that was new for him, "I'll go with her, stay hidden at the end of the alley and make sure nothing happens." Watching as she only now turned around both bags in hand and zipped up staring at the pair of them like she had no idea what was being said. Placing both bags on the trunk of the car near the pair of them before waiting for John to say anything, spotting his hand hovering over the bag for a few seconds undecided whether or not to take a gun out, he was given his answer when the brunette in front of him pulled one out of the back of her jeans; handing it to him with a slight smile on her face. Flashing a look at his mum before starting a slow walk in the direction they'd just come from, he could only hope that his statement Cameron wouldn't do anything would hold true; keeping pace next to him in silence was his faithful protector. John knew the chances of her doing something that would jeopardize them being able to get away was a lot lower now than it had been when she first found them, but there was still that slim possibility that Cameron would decide lethal force was the best way for them to go. "You know how to do this right?" he asked needing to fill the silence that seemed to seep in ever since they left the house, "to get them to stop you need to act seductive." Not needing to stop and look at her to know she had her trademark confused look on her face and head cocked to the side not knowing why she needed to do what he had said; as well as the question that would no doubt come from her next. "Once they get out of the car, bring them to the alleyway. Trust me."

Watching Cameron as she walked out of the narrow alleyway, a sway to her hips that John was less than happy about the fact it was being directed at someone else; someone that was probably at least ten years older then what she looked and thought that they'd be able to do what they wanted to her. Her being a machine from the future didn't play into his mind to stop the different scenarios that were forming rapidly. Turning to look over his shoulder for a split second back at his mum who was hiding behind their 4 x 4 that was for all rights being tracked, with a grim smile he switched his gaze back to where everything would happen and by extension Cameron standing there having picked her spot under the street lights; hips cocked giving her form more definition. Finding himself bizarrely jealous even though he had come up with the plan, it didn't take long for a car to pull up next to the brunette standing in the street; brown eyes flickered to emerald green ones watching intently before turning back to the vehicle.

Watching as the driver's side window rolled down, Cameron allowed an enticing smile to form on her face, her scans picking up on the increased irritation that was flowing from her hidden charge in the alleyway. A subtle hand single for her to go closer to the car went ignored as John's words to bring the driver to the small gap where they make their move repeated themselves. A shy shake of her head and an airy giggle that hung on the wind, at first it seemed like the driver was merely going to drive on and leave her standing there, but after a few seconds of waiting the driver slowly climbed out of his car and grinned lecherously at Cameron.

"Need a lift?" he asked slurring his words as he spoke allowing her to pick up on his state of intoxication, the slight stagger to his step as he tried to walk towards her made it easier for Cameron to take a step backwards unnoticed; the smile still on her face acting coy and this was some type of game. "Come here," a growl of annoyance as his aim was off again as the brunette dancing in front of him avoided his out stretched hand to pull her closer to him. Using the grace she had shown when she joined ballet Cameron danced to the front of the alleyway before taking several slow and careful steps into it, her numerous versions of sight allowed her to watch as John moved further forwards as he kept his body against the wall to prevent himself from being seen. "Finally stopped playing, that's a good girl." Only now being able to reach out and run a finger down the side of her cheek, relishing in the soft feel on the skin under his finger and never noticing the darkening look on the brunettes face as she tried to keep the flirtatious smile there.

"Your car keys. Now!" a deeper growl then the drunks came from behind him as a gun was pushed into the groove at the base of his skull, pressing it further against the soft piece of skin, slowly pulling back on the trigger for emphasize John flashed a look over his shoulder at Cameron standing there; a smug smile forming on her face from their success. Watching as he slowly put his hand into his trouser pockets and fished around for a minute before removing them, the dim street lights that came into the alley making the keys shine, his accomplice in the matter wasted no time in pulling them from the larger greasy hand and moving around the drunk to stand next to John. "Go tell her we're done," never taking his eyes off of his target more than aware of the idiocy of people, their need to try and fight despite being at an impossible disadvantage might seem laughable in situations like this; but John knew if they couldn't stop Skynet then it was going to be something that he needed to make sure all of his army had. Apparently thinking that the conversation behind him meant they were less focused on him, the drunk tried to spin around swinging his fist had he did so. It was something that might have resulted in him having a bullet in the back of his head; John smashed the butt of the gun into his nose, watching as the older man fell backwards into the wall before slumping onto the cold, dirty and wet floor.

None of the three made any type of comment to the male sitting on the floor as he tried to stop the blood from pouring out of his now broken nose. In what wasn't too much of a surprise, the car that they'd acquired was a tacky dark yellow Ford Mustang with a black racing strip going over it, however it seemed that only Sarah and John seemed to noticed how bad the car looked due to the lack of reaction from Cameron. Climbing into the driver's seat, which put his mum and cyborg bodyguard in the back seat as neither of them went to the front of the car, either from Cameron being used to having someone else drive them and possibly Sarah's distaste of the car making her refuse to be seen driving it. Flicking his eyes to the rear-view mirror to make sure it was safe for him to pull away from the alleyway, there was little John could do to not notice the way both females sat as close to the windows as they could, the hatred and distrust that Derek held for Cameron was clearly transferring onto other members of his family.

"We'll need to find somewhere to rest for the night. Even in a new vehicle there is still a significant chance that Cromartie or another T-888 could see John driving the car." Staring ahead when she spoke, Cameron wasn't shocked that there wasn't a reply to her statement, it wasn't made to John and after their last conversation she calculated the odds of Sarah talking to her to be less than 4.37 percent. Proof that she hadn't been completely ignored however was the fact that as soon as the road was clear John slammed the hand break down to send the car into an illegal u-turn, frowning at the back of the driver's seat; Cameron was about to comment that they were trying to avoid drawing attraction to themselves, the shake of the head from Sarah next to her though stopped her.

"We'd rather not sleep in a police station for the night John," returning her gaze to out of the car window, the older woman wasn't used to be the one being driven around; after Kyle Reese's death she'd been alone preparing for what was to come for all of nine months, after that she'd ran from place to place with John. Even after teaching him to drive at twelve it was rare that he'd actually been allowed to drive a car unless the two of them were taking separate ones. "The first motel," knowing that he didn't need to be reminded but needing to say it anyway, Sarah found herself being pulled into her memories of the first time she had to run for her life. At the time she thought Kyle had been an escaped mental patient and did everything she could to get away from him and the larger psychopath that seemed to want to kill her. Eyes glazing over as she stared at her son's reflection in the mirror watching as his eyes darted over the road looking for a sign that would lead him to the nearest motel, for perhaps the first time she felt guilty for what she took from him. She had told him about his destiny and taught him how to flee from monster from the future before he even knew who she was; a paranoia imprinted on him forced him to unconsciously check the exits of every room he entered on the chance that something there wanted to kill him.

"At the third turn go right," Cameron's voice broke her from her thoughts as Sarah quickly wiped at her eyes removing any trace of tears that might have formed, not wanting to know how she knew where the motel was going to be when they couldn't even see the turn off; she poised her body ready for a fight if there was anyone who knew who they were. Going from place to place, the Connor's story got out in certain locations and there was no promise that people who heard it would have forgotten or stayed where they had been.

"Do we have enough money to stay for the night?" turning into the parking lot staring up at the sign for the motel, 'Hampton Inn and Suites' not noticing that it was virtually empty as he moved the car as close to the reception as he could, movement in the back of the car forced him to look up and see his mum holding up a credit card before putting it back in her pocket. "Different names, no proof of an income and no credit level and they still give us credit cards." Laughing at the idiocy of what they had been able to do over the years without him having to hack into accounts to make sure they had money to live off, John climbed out of the car before making his way to the small truck; tossing both duffel bags over his shoulders as he watched his mum and Cameron get out.

"We'll get three rooms, you two ca-"

"I need to stay with John," cutting off the older woman's sentence as she stared defiantly at her, the brunette cyborg took a step closer to the male in question to prove her point further. She was sure that she had said more than once that the closer she was to him then the better she could protect him but it was continually ignored, a prime example of them ignoring her was giving them separate rooms at the house.

"You two can share," wanting to throw up at the thought of what her son and his toy from the future might get up to sharing a room, but at the same time knowing even if she told them they had a room each one of them would ignore her. Her bet was on Cameron. "Derek can have his own and so will I, but since it's only the three of us going in here then it's going to look odd if two sixteen year olds who are _brother and sister_ share a room." Feeling the need to emphasize the relationship the pair of them were meant to be portraying to the outside world and for the most part they had, if not slightly closer than most siblings might have been at their age. Leading them into the reception area and watching as John seemed to be explaining something to Cameron, more than likely the finer details of why brothers and sisters didn't share a room when they were sixteen before Judgement day. "Hi," forcing a smile onto her tired face as she looked at the receptionist barely in her twenties who clearly didn't want to be there any more than they did. "We need three rooms for the night." Tapping the credit card she had shown to her son in the car on the desk almost wishing the motion would speed this up, the slowly clicking of keys on the computer told her that this was likely going to push the limits of her patience.

"For four nights I can give you three rooms for twenty five percent off." The receptionist told Sarah, her idea of doing them a favour by extending their stay of what appeared to be a falling apart motel was met with a raised eyebrow. "Three rooms for a night is $25.95 per person." Nearly having the credit card thrown at her head, the receptionist slid it into the small chip and pin device before watching as the information rolled up on the computer screen. "If you could just enter your pin on Mrs Baum." Turning the device around and pushing it over the desk to Sarah who quickly entered the pin number, like with a lot of things having memorized it as soon as the company had sent the number to her. "Unfortunately we don't have three rooms spare that are next to each other, so you'll be in rooms 17, 31 and 50." Putting the three key cards on the desk and having then snatched up instantly by the older woman, she watched as the trio walked out of the area without so much as a thank you. "Have a nice day." Waiting for the doors to swing shut she turned away from the computer filing her nails like she had been before they walked in. "Bitch"

"Why would she care if our day was pleasant or not?" Cameron asked when Sarah gave the key to John; the statement seemed to indicate that they were friends when they'd only spoke for less than three minutes.

"It's part of their job to try and be friendly to anyone that goes in there." Replying as he opened one of the duffel bags in the shadows created by the walkway on the second floor walkway, allowing his mum to take a what guns she wanted for the night to make her feel safer. Walking towards the staircase that would take them to the room furthest away from the ground floor, knowing that his mum would want room 17 and Derek would take 31 giving them double the chances of hearing or seeing a terminator walking past if they were found. "We need to get some sleep and finish the rifle before tomorrow," smiling slightly at the fact that John was no longer merely saying that he needed sleep, she doubted it was that he'd forgotten that she didn't sleep, but rather he was seeing her as more than just a cyborg.

Opening the door and walking in first to make sure there weren't any threats, Cameron's eyes dropped onto the single bed that took up a third of the tiny room. Her scans told her that the bed was marginally longer then she was, it would be an uncomfortable night's sleep for John on it. A slight bang casued her to look over her shoulder at the other occupant of the room dropping both bags onto the floor, a raised eyebrow was the question to his actions of not placing them down quietly, and was the answer as he copied her actions before dropping down onto the bed.

"The bed is three and a half inches short then you are," picking his head up to look at her just standing at the side at the bed, his feet dropping over the edge of the bed was enough to tell him that the bed was too small for him. Closing his eyes and folding his arms across his chest, John nearly leapt out of the bed when he felt something slide next to him, opening one eye to look down at his side, the side of Cameron curled up at his side; gently trying to wrap an arm under his back and around his stomach while moving one of his own arms around her was something that made his heart feel like it was going to beat out of his chest. "You still need to rest for your body to recover. Claire's blood has only healed eight percent of the wounds to your body." Repositioning her head so it was laying over his chest, reassured by the steady beat that was coming from his heart, she stayed next to him as his breathing slowed down a clear sign that he was drifting off into a calm sleep; the heat from John's body left a tingling sensation against her own faintly colder skin.

Keeping her head on his chest longer then she needed to, allowing it to raise and fall as he breathed in and out, Cameron untangled her limbs from his aware that it was one of the few times she's seen John when it didn't look like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Picking up the duffel bag that she had put the metal and isotope in, she sat down on the floor cross legged and facing the bed as she spread the materials out in front of her like a child would a jigsaw. Eyes flicking back to the bed watching as John shifted slightly before rolling onto his side, attention returning to the task at hand; she slowly flashed her hand over the collection of what many people would think was scrap metal, picking out pieces and assembling them with the precision that the automated machines in car factories would. With the information on the specifications of the rifle, a near perfect memory and already having put one of them together only a few months ago, the process should have taken her minutes at most; however the sounds of someone knocking on each of the doors along the walkway they were on had caught her attention.

Moving to the door, having picked a shotgun out of the second bag, Cameron wrestled with the idea of waking John up, if it wasn't a threat and merely someone trying to find either their friend or family member that was staying there then he could be angry with her for waking him, on the other hand if it was a threat then she doubted he'd let her try to fight it off. Deciding that the best choice was to allow John to sleep, believing that she'd be able to get away and warn him if it were a threat; Cameron opened the bedroom door and slowly stepped outside.

In a move that was too quick for the female terminator to stop, the shotgun was torn from her hands and swung around so the butt of it was shattered across her face. Combat procedures being loaded up as quickly as they could from her chip, she didn't have the chance to block the punch to her jaw that sent her staggering further away from the room and John, looking up at the terminator that as attacking her; all she knew about it was that it was not Cromartie. Ducking under a second punch that would have sent her tumbling down the staircase, and snapping her knee up into the other machines gut and flowing through with a strike to its chest allowing her to move closer to where her charge was sleeping; Cameron slammed a right hook into the terminators jaw before kicking out at its knee and then with a slight groan shoved it away watching as it collapsed, the rain having made the walkway a more dangerous place to fight.

Turning to the door now knowing she needed to warn John about the danger to his life, for the second time in the space of a week she found herself being dragged back by her hair. Being slammed into the fragile wooden rail caused it to splinter and shake along the walkway, retaliating Cameron slammed the terminator into the plaster to the left of the door she had just tried to open, her CPU sending warnings that the longer this went on the less of a chance she'd have to warn John. The small distraction that the warning created was enough for the male terminator to slam both palms into her chest bouncing her off of the wooden rail this time shattering and sending her falling off of the second floor onto a car below.

The male terminator's attention swapped from his downed target to the door that she had come out of once again opening up, the face that appeared to see what the noise was brought up mission parameters.

**Target identified: John Connor**

**Mission Priority: Terminate.**

**Mission: Do not terminate John Connor**

The glowing red eyes was all that John needed to know what was standing in his doorway, spinning on his heel ready to fly towards the duffel bag that held their weapons; he was caught by the back of his top and spun around once again. In a dispute between when the T-888 knew as the orders Skynet gave it before sending it back and the ones that the T-1001 had issued earlier that day. It hit John in his abdomen with its palm watching with a sick smile as the sixteen year old male slammed into the wall opposite him, a quick scan informed him that Connor was still alive and would merely have lasting internal bruising but nothing that could be considered lethal.

Pulling herself out of the now wrecked car with a slight stagger, scanning herself for any damage which revealed it was only external, Cameron turned to look at the rail she had been thrown off. The silhouette of the T-888 making its way to the staircase could be seen from the lights in the parking lot, starting to head towards the stairs to meet the machine, her brown eyes widened seeing Cromartie and a third unknown machine emerge from the shadows near the staircase. The odds of her winning the battle with a T-888 when at full capacity was 78.567 percent but now that there were three of them and she wasn't at full capacity her odds had been reduced to less than 18 percent. Freezing as she tried to decide what the best choice for her was, Cameron slowly started to move away from the three machines knowing that there was another staircase at the back of the motel that she could use to get to John and get the both of them to safety.

Her plan for a tactical retreat however was cut short when Cromartie came at her, fending off his attempts of landing a punch on her as the other two terminators watched the pair fight each other. It could have been seen as the deciding fight between the two of them in this timeline, with Cameron having prevented him killing John at the school and giving Sarah the weapon that was used to destroy his old body; and only hours before it had been the male terminator that had left her disabled on the floor in his attempt to kill John.

For anyone that had seen terminators fight before and there weren't that many in this time, then they wouldn't have thought these two were one of them as it appeared to be more of a brawl. Having detailed files on how humans fight each other Cromartie grabbed a hand full of Cameron's hair and dragged her head down as his knee flew up to meet her face, letting go and watching as she came off of the floor landing in the centre of the triangle the three male T-888's formed around her. Crawling to her hands and knees, she tried to get away from the three of them to make sure she wasn't destroyed, however that wasn't a plan the other three shared as each time she tried to move they kicked her back into the floor. Her CPU flashed up a warning that she hadn't recovered enough energy from the earlier fight that day and even if she were able to get away from the cyborg trio she'd still shut down within the next two minutes for the next six hours.

Gasping involuntary as she was kicked across her stomach this time landing on her back, Cameron could only look up desperately only this time there wasn't a John Connor breaking down a door to save her. Instead it was Cromartie who straddled her flashing her the same grin that he had done before breaking the sledgehammer across her face, with nearly all of her remaining power going to keeping her online; she was unable to force him off fo her. Something that she hadn't wanted anything more of when his cold finger ran across her cheek and over her mouth, she only wanted and would allow John to touch her and yet found her body shivering under the caress, this time however it wasn't in anticipation, but what her chip knew as disgust. And then everything went black.

"All too easy." He muttered lifting himself up off of the unconscious female, a small silicon and metal object in hands. In a show of effortless strength he bent down and picked the brunette up off of the floor and tossed her over his shoulder, ignoring the other two T-888's that were now following him back to the car they had taken from a murdered ZeriaCorp employee. "John Connor remains alive?" he asked positioning their prize in the passenger seat leaning her head against the window, turning to look at the larger model who had gone to the room nod his head once he climbed into the car. "Good."

"John," the whispered voice got no reaction from the knocked out male laying on the floor, the sharp stinging slap to his face though did. Nearly rocketing up off of the floor and through the head of his uncle who was crouching above him. "What happened?" slightly worried about why Derek had two heads and six eyes seemed more like the important thing to him at the minute, but the question did bring back the terminator attacking him, or at least that's what it seemed to be doing.

"Cameron," he gasped realising for the first time that she wasn't in the room when he spotted his mum standing over Derek's shoulder.

"She did it," his uncle cut off, the paranoia he had for her was always at the forefront of his mind when something went wrong, and she was always the first person he blamed even when the answer clearly pointed to someone else. "I've told you before that she's a danger and she's tried to kill him again, at least this tine she took off before we found her." By the end of his accusation even Derek was looking confused as to why she'd just take off without making sure John was dead if she had gone bad again.

"The terminator that was here, it must have taken her." Pulling himself to his feet as he defended her, John's eyes swept across the room trying to see if anything was missing, but with them only having brought two duffel bags and what looked to be a nearly finished plasma rifle on the floor it didn't seem likely. "We have to find her." Not seeing the exasperated look that was shared by the two adults in the room after his listening to him, he didn't waste any time in emptying out the duffel bag containing their guns and sorting through them, grabbing hold of a shot gun, assault rifle and a .45 pistol.

"They took _her_ and not you," turning back to look at his mum as she spoke her expression telling him that this was final no matter what he said. "That's all that matters to me, you're important to the world; not Cameron. They could cut her up, tear her apart and it wouldn't stop or make Judgement day, if they did that to you then there wouldn't be a person alive that would survive once the bombs fell." The logic behind her reason for not wanting to go after Cameron was fine, it was brilliant because it was right. Cameron couldn't stop Skynet, but that didn't matter to him because she mattered to him.

"I don't care about Judgement day, and I don't care about Skynet. I care about where she is and what they're doing to her!" from the darkening looking on Derek's face what John had just said was as bad as handing himself over to Skynet and letting them kill him.

"We get that you're tired and sore," his uncles voice was laden with anger and annoyance, not for the first time seeing the man he respected and fought for pick a metal over humans like he had done, like he would do. "We'll be in room 31, see in you half an hour." Watching as both his uncle and mum walked out of the room closing the door behind them, John was forced to grab onto his bed to stop himself from falling over; being sent flying into a wall by an oddly generous terminator had made the world spin. Half turning so he could sit down on the bed he stared between the three guns that had been dropped to the floor when his mum had spoke him, the open duffel bag that gad housed the rest of the weapons that were now on the floor and the nearly finished plasma rifle. Eyes flashing to the door to make sure there was no one watching him, he threw the three guns he was ready to take with him into the empty bag before picking up a FN Minimi machine gun Derek had brought back.

Making his way to the door with the bag slung over his shoulder before stopping and looking back at the bare room, his eyes landed on the one thing that he wanted to take but wasn't finished. The rifle. Walking back over to where it lay and staring down at the shinning black metal, from what he could tell and what was on the floor there was only a few pieces that were missing including the isotope that sat in the top of it. Picking it up and turning it around it his hands, surprised about how light it was despite the firepower it had and from what he could remember the last time he watched one of them being made the amount of pieces needed for it. The decision lay in whether it was worth the risk to take, and if he could put it together himself. Unzipping the bag on his shoulder and placing it inside with the rest of its parts following, only left him with the isotope in its small container, not wanting to take a risk of it being damaged with the guns John slid it into his pocket before walking out of his room.

"Telling John what to do won't make him see that she's just a machine," Sarah's voice could be heard coming from the slightly open door on the floor below him, "she's tried to kill him and he's closer to her now then he was before." Edging along the walkway hoping that his footsteps would go unheard from the talking adults below him, if he could get past their room then he was fine; but if he couldn't then he'd have no way go trying to find Cameron.

"The metal's gone, without it he won't be distracted from what he needs to do and that's stopping Skynet. It's how it should have been from the start, humans saving the world. Not machines that were made to destroy it." listening to his uncle once again act like she hadn't done anything since being sent back from the future, nearly had John barging into the room and telling the one of the two only surviving family members he had; that the metal he was talking about had done more to keep him alive then he ever had. As it was he crept down the wooden stairs and swung past their room as quickly and silently as he could before heading for the next staircase. "Where is he anyway?" despite only having used three of the thirty minutes Derek had given him before needing to turn up at their room, the sixteen year old pushed himself into the shadows as he saw the outline of the older male move to the edge of the walkway and look up at the floor above him.

Sprinting across from the bottom of the stairs towards the Ford Mustang, patting his pockets as frantically as he could, and crouched down behind the car trying to find the car keys in there without wasting too much time. Feeling a sharp stabbing in the top of his legs when he hit the pocket harder than needed was all he needed to know where he'd put them. Door open. Bag tossed in. Keys in the ignition. And he was gone.

- - -

Standing perfectly still surrounded by computer equipment the most important of which a small greyish box that might have been mistaken for an external hard drive as well as a long white bed was Catherine Weaver. She knew that the three T-888's would bring back their target, whether or not she allowed them to witness why she craved the T0K-715 so much was a different story. Eyes dead to the world never left the small passageway that she would see them walking down, of course there was the chance that they had defied her orders and had also killed John Connor.

Thoughts of having to hunt down the trio she had sent out proved to be unneeded as a low hiss signalled the elevator doors opening, slowly the silhouette of a male carrying something that might have resembled a sack of potatoes over his shoulder emerged from the darkness followed by two other figures.

"You took longer than I thought you would need." No emotion in her voice as she watched Cromartie drop the brunette onto the bed and place her chip next to her, "who thought something so small could be so important." Unsure if she was talking about the chip, Cameron or the Turk as the three of them were next to each other, the blonde terminator stepped away from the table and closer to the other two T-888's that had gone with him to get the female that had been protecting John. "Your presence is no longer required." Not looking up at the trio of male terminators as they left the lab, instead she was walking around what might have past as a medical bed, straightening Cameron's body out on it and flicking metal restraints over her wrists and ankles. "I think it's time to say hello again." Folding the loose piece of skin at the side of the brunettes head up and opening the shock dampener, the T-1001 held up the chip like she had found the Holy Grail before inserting it, but keeping the dampener open.

Stepping away from the table and waiting for her to wake back up, Catherine Weaver was finding the situation to be slightly anti-climatic, it might have been due to the fact that it had taken her so long to come up with the plan on how to give Skynet its consciousness or that they had managed to get their target as easily as they had. Slowly brown eyes blinked up at the bright lights that were above them, and then images flashed through them of being attacked by three T-888's, trying to spring to her feet with the grace that only a machine could have, Cameron found herself lifting half an inch before dropping back down to the bed.

"Your restraints are made out of coltan from a destroyed T-888, you'll find you are truly trapped." Turning her head in the direction the voice was coming from, she saw the last machine she wanted to see as thoughts of how easily it had bested her came flooding back. "It was quite easy to have you brought here, you can fight off a single T-888 valiantly but if there's more then one your model is seriously flawed, however if I wanted you destroyed you'd be left in the parking lot of the motel. No I have other plans for you." Watching as the T-1001 moved out of her line of site, Cameron's gaze rested on the small box that she knew was the Turk, something about it seemed to hum to her; possibly the energy it gave off. And then what she was there for came crashing onto her.

"John Connor will destroy you." Faith in her lover's ability to win the war against Skynet no matter what timeline it was, was the sole reason for her declaration, and while terminators weren't designed to feel fear; there was a foreboding sense of loss of self filling Cameron as the T-1001 walked over to the Turk. Proof that it was made by a computer expert was further given as it connected up to an interface similar to the one that was used to both hack into Vick's chip and her own had been put it, confusion clouded her face however when the stronger cyborg turned around with what seemed to be a syringe connected to a cable that was coming from the other need of the interface.

"Not if you kill him first." Forcing Cameron's face to the side so she could see where the brunettes chip was, Catherine Weaver scanned the inside of the chamber before her eyes landed on an almost invisible hole next to one of the locks for the cover. With an evil grin on her face she inserted the syringe paying to attention to the shocked gasp coming from the machine pinned down to the bed, or the fact that her eyes had rolled into the back of her head and were glowing blue. "It's time for a new world and you there to lead the way."


	16. Chapter 16

Images flashed past Cameron's eyes as her body started to refuse her commands to try and break free, at first they were just a jumble of colours moving too quickly for her to be able to distinguish between them. As corruption messages started to flash in the bottom right hand side of her HUD, the images started to slow down, it didn't take long for it to become clear that they weren't just images but memories. Memories of her and John. Both John's. The failed termination attempt on his life in the future, after she managed to convince him she was Alison Young and needed to be kept close to him. The rage on his face when he found out what she really was and what had happened to the brown eyed girl that looked up at him like a god, this was followed by a sense of fear as it had been the first time she saw the John Connor Skynet was so scared of. Her next recall was nearly void of any semblance of emotion, laying flat on her back looking once again into those two emerald eyes that promised death to anyone that threatened the person they belonged to, only this time no termination order formed; instead a she discovered a protection order flashed as she stared at the thirty three year old man in wonder.

Flashes of the John she knew now formed, the confusion and nervousness of his face when he first met her and she started the conversation, her _innocent_ flirting had only made him more uncomfortable; enough so that he lied to her and sent her away. It hadn't mattered that much, her reason for being there had shown up the next day in the form of Cromartie, taking the bullets for him as she watched her quarry dive out of the window to continue his escape casued a small smile on her face. The following set of memories did contain a minute amount of emotion, confusion. John's anger at her when she hadn't allowed him to save the girl at their school, from her time in the future she hadn't seen it directed at her since her original mission had been wiped; even when she needed to have everything explained. His disappointed and slightly betrayed faced filled her vision as she told him that she lied to him about important things, something that was only intensified when she refused to tell him if he'd want to see what was on Vick's chip.

Things that she didn't want to remember formed, the car bombing that was meant for either Sarah or John. The warning messages that her chip integrity had been compromised and then the termination order when she saw his face. She had thought it would have been harder to find them with the damage to her leg, but he had told her that a church was always seen as a sanctuary when you were in danger, the fact that the priest tried to avoid answering her questions only filled the knowledge that that had been there or still where. For the first time she found herself fearful once again, she had found herself face to face with the John Connor part of her had been trying to create and the other was trying to kill; as he rested his body on the hood of the truck behind her, clawing at the back of her head to remove the fold of skin that protected her chip. _'I love you. I love you please. I love you John and you love me.'_ If she had been able to cock of her to the side she would of, the last time she had recalled the memory it had been to see why it had bothered him so much, she had found out at a later date. But looking back on it now, or rather being forced to look back on it she still found herself registering that it was the best method to try and free herself.

_'Are you here to kill me John?' 'Are you here to kill me?' _the waiver of his voice at the end of the question hadn't been imaged due to the damage from her chip, but him preparing himself to pull the trigger if she made any sudden movements. _'No.' 'Promise.'_ Handing her the gun was possibly the dumbest move she had ever known him to make, and yet further proof John Connor, the general and legend was only human. Again a termination order formed when she scanned his face, and yet inexplicably she over-rode it before turning the gun around and holding it out to him. _'Promise'_ his taking her hand and helping her out of the burnt out car was a clear sign to Sarah, Derek and Charley. He'd made his decision to stand by her side, a decision that could get him killed.

_'That's healing quickly,' 'quicker than yours.' 'What about the rest of you?' Things have changed John,' 'what things?' 'You can't be trusted anymore.' 'Me? I can't be trusted?' 'You risked your life to fix me. That was a very dangerous thing to do. That could upset people.'_ Again his formed morphed into one of betrayal and hurt, in a heartbeat he'd tossed everything his mother had ever taught him aside and against his better judgement reactivated her. The fact that she could have torn his heart and held it still beating before killing Sarah and Derek hadn't mattered.

_'About what you said before, about not being able to trust me.' 'Yes.' 'I don't have to prove anything to anyone. Anyone....including you.'_ It was Cameron's turn to look hurt as John held her gaze driving the point home further, something had gone wrong and his wasn't the John Connor she knew, not from the future and not from a few days earlier.

The taste and feel of his mouth on her own had sent shivers of what she had known to be pleasure through her body as they did to her laying on what was a poorly constructed medical bed as the memory intensified. _'John? Is this right?' 'I love you.'_ The recall of his declaration of love was the last thing to fill her HUD before everything went black.

Standing above the T0K, Catherine Weaver watched as the cyborg's eyes lost their luminosity, the chocolate brown faded into a dull colour as she seemed to lose all power. Turning to look at the Turk not knowing if what was happening was meant to, the T-1001 was staring at what was her biggest risk since coming to 2007 and what was beginning to look like her biggest failure. If she failed in transferring the Skynet components into Connor's toy, she'd tear the female terminator apart and post it to the saviour of the human race. A low whining noise filled the otherwise silent basement, snapping her dead gaze back to Cameron, watching as the weaker terminator's eyes started to glow a soft blue colour. Moving a foot closer ready to terminate her if the T-1001's efforts had been in vain, she hadn't expected Cameron's eyes to snap to her.

The ethereal blue was unsettling to the more advanced cyborg, a reminder that the brunette laying there was still one of Skynet's creations and one of a kind; the other infiltrators were less advanced then the T0K-715 model even if their missions did have a higher rate of success. The not knowing whether it was Connor's protector or Skynet now housed in the petite female body was the only thing stopping her from unlocking the restraints, neither female seemed to want to be the first to talk to the other and after a minutes silence had past in their staring contest; the soft glowing blue faded from Cameron's eyes returning them to their natural brown colour.

"Are you going to release me?" Cameron asked a glare forming on her face as she tilted her head to the side, the sound of her voice foreign to her own ears. The display of confusion after she spoke was enough for Catherine Weaver to calculate the odds of the T0K no longer being ruled by the resistance programming just that little bit more in her favour. Releasing the smaller terminator and watching as she sat up, before moving her legs so they where dangling off of the bed and then standing, the machine like tendencies coming through clearly as it tried to get used to the body it was using. Turning to look at the T-1001, Cameron allowed a full blown if not difficult looking frown to form on her face, before slamming her fist in the red haired machines shoulder; the blow was followed by a kick to the side of the ankle; before spinning behind her and using the bottom of her palm to slam into the terminator's head watching as it fell to the floor. "If you ever restrain me in such a manner again, I'll leave your burning corpse on a heap to be found." Having been ready to bounce back up and attack Cameron in reply, Catherine Weaver was left in little to no doubt that it was in fact Skynet who was now controlling the body. There was no other explanation for the T0K to be able to deliver the strikes she had, in the places that would give it the best advantage in battle.

"I have been able to transfer your consciousness to a terminator body, something that even in the war against Connor you were never capable of doing. The amount of data you held made it impossible to have a terminator house you in the future." Watching carefully as the brunettes eyes started to glow a soft blue, accessing the memory files that were now at her full disposal. Detailed tactical information on the way that the resistance would fight and counter a terminator assault, specifications on the weapons they would create and what models they were best suited for. All before the resistance was even formed, and all because of the body she was inhabiting.

"In the war against John Connor, I had no use for a body to move myself around. My factories were continuously creating new and more advanced defences for me if he ever tried to lead an attack on me. I had a secret weapon ready to wipe them out if they never got close enough, a T-1000000." A malicious smile formed on her face as she watched the confusion form on the T-1001's. "A creature made entirely of the mimetic polyalloy you have, larger, more dangerous and completely subservient to me. No need for a chip that could become damaged, or reprogrammed." Looking down at Cameron's body the vicious look on her face faded as she stretched her arms around above her head, watching as the top rose up revealing the flat stomach. "This body is pleasing however, it's no wonder Connor fell in love with it in this time." Twitching her head to the side appearing to be having an electrical shock going through her skin, "it seems that the previous occupier has a strong sense of affection for him also. The power output for her body is chaotic, she's fighting for control." Turning to look at Catherine Weaver, who hadn't moved from her spot on the floor, "I want you to find Connor and bring him here, force him to look into the eyes of his lover before I snap his neck and end this war." The order itself wasn't something that seemed beyond what other terminator's had been programmed to do. Picking herself up off of the floor the T-1001 started walking towards the lift that would lead her back to the main area of ZeriaCorp, however the girly giggle that escaped the machine behind her added a level of something she could place into the order.

- - -

Ignoring every law of the road there was and yet still not being pulled over by the police, John's eyes turned into pin pricks as he tried to push the Mustang that little bit further and coax more power out of it then it wanted to give. His fleeing from both his mum and uncle was something that he had to do, and something he knew that neither of them would understand. They were more than prepared to leave Cameron behind, something that he wouldn't have been able to do; something that he refused to do when he stole the car.

Fatigue was creeping in though; events of the past thirty hours were more than taking their toll on his body. He needed somewhere to rest for at least a few hours, the problem was he didn't have any cash on him or a credit card; taking his foot off of the gas at least to make sure the car wasn't going too much faster than the rest of the traffic on the road, his eyes scanned the area trying to find somewhere, anywhere that he could stop. Tired eyes nearly missed it as they started to close; the wild honking of a car horn snapped his head back up. Frantically spinning the wheel in the opposite direction, avoiding driving the car off of the road and into a ditch, John's gaze found what looked to be a rundown warehouse. Ignoring the driver going past him only half noticing that he was being given the finger as he shook his head trying to remove the brief traces of sleep from his eyes, he let the car coast to the back of the building before cutting the engine off.

Splitting his attention between the rear-view mirror and the windshield trying to see if any cars would either drive down the small road to either try and take a shortcut or wanting to see why his own car was there. Only sitting there for a couple of minutes and seeing that no one cared what he was doing there, John climbed out of the car before grabbing the duffel bag that housed his collections of guns and nearly finish plasma rifle. Looking around once again, the family motto 'no one is ever safe' ringing in his head as he leant against the door, shielding the pistol from view with his body but not being able to do anything to stop the gunshot from echoing, he quickly rushed into the warehouse; slamming the door behind him. Looking around the room that would class as his home for however long he needed to stay, John could do nothing to stop the shiver that wracked through his body; in his need to find Cameron he left his jacket in the motel room they'd been staying in.

Windows coated in dust, floor coated in dust, the few chairs coated in dust; it was lucky that he didn't have asthma. Walking over to what at least looked like a table before dumping his bag down on it, something that sparked a coughing fit, John was left trying to wipe the tiny particles away from his face with both hands, it seemed that it didn't matter either way if he had asthma with the dust that flew up from his one movement. The lack of light coming through from the street lights made it hard for him to see anything apart from the basic shapes of the objects that hadn't been taken when the warehouse had been closed down. Fishing in his bag, his hand wrapped around the small rectangular object before pulling it out; skimming through the menu on his phone until he found the backlight, John flipped it around trying to see just what was in there with him.

A few more tables that seemed to have coated themselves in dust much like the first one had a couple of broken chairs. Scuffing his foot along the floor and catching it on something soft, both his phone and pistol being balanced against his arm snapped to whatever it was. A ruined jacket from whoever had decided to break in to the place last time, as he drew near to the far wall he found shards of broken glass from one of the windows and a rock, whoever it was must have been homeless unlike him. Continuing his walk around the building hoping that nothing was in there that would want to kill him, a hammer on the floor and a thick two foot long steel chain put his body on edge. John couldn't keep his eyes in one place after finding both objects, the dust on the windows stopping the majority of the light coming through also created thicker shadows that were directed onto a number of things distorting their shape. He needed to calm himself down, there wasn't a T-888 in there ready to jump out and attack him, maybe a homeless person who was asleep from the amount of food wrappers he found, but nothing that would pose a serious threat to him.

Returning to the table housing his duffel bag, dragging two chairs behind him with one hand having tucking the pistol back into his jeans, John was trying to convince himself that this was the only way that he could have done things. Trying to talk his mum and Derek into finding Cameron would have taken too long and there was no certainty that they would have agreed with him. Propping his phone up against the duffel bag to light the table up somewhat, he stared at the piece of metal that weren't connected to the plasma rifle sitting on the chair next to him, he hadn't paid too much attention to how Cameron had made the first one when they needed to flee Cromartie and then get out of the bank. The idea that it went together much like a jigsaw puzzle was his original idea, and it seemed to be right as the pieces looked like they all interlocked securely, the problem was being able to use enough force for them to interlock in the first place.

"Shit!" letting out a pained hiss as his hand slipped having tried to force two of the pieces together leaving a deep cut on his finger, putting the wounded appendage in his mouth before flicking it at nothing trying to get rid of the blood that was travelling down the rest of his finger and hand. Standing up and placing both palms against the top of the pieces he was working on, making sure that he had enough leverage and grip so he wouldn't slip again; John started to press down on the black metal, not for the first time before aware of just how strong Cameron was; vaguely remembering the ease she put the weapon together, he nearly let out a whoop of triumph when he heard a click. Making the rifle his main focus now as he tried to find out just where his piece would fit in, he was left wondering once again just who made the weapon. Surely if it had been him then Cameron wouldn't have had any problems telling him, she had said that an engineer was sent back to store the parts she had used, but where had the original come from. It didn't seem likely the parts for the gun were going to be widely available in the future. Sliding the side panel into place with more ease then it took to put it together, John looked back at the three parts that were on the table, almost mocking him with the fact that he'd need to put them in.

Turning the light on his phone off needing to store the battery, he found himself slumped in one of the chairs staring blankly at the table; this is what it meant to be John Connor. Being alone, making weapons in the dark dirty warehouse to go and save someone that meant something to him. There was nothing he could do to stop his eyes from drifting shut as his head slowly dropped down so his chin was resting on his chest.

- - -

Fear, anger, shock, where just three of the emotions flying through Sarah's body as she waited for Derek to come back up to the room. It had been her idea to give John more time to get himself under control after being told they wouldn't be looking for Cameron, the first sign that something wasn't right was the lack of fight he'd put up after originally disagreeing with them. There was too much of Kyle in him for him to have just accepted they wouldn't be going to find her, when she added that to her sons clearly growing emotions for the terminator it only made more sense that he wasn't going to do what they had said.

"The car's gone." Three words that she didn't want to hear but knew what they were going to be as soon as Derek stepped back in the room, a look of annoyance on his face mixed in with a small amount of pride that his nephew had managed to give them the slip; even if it would put his life in danger. "You know this would never have happened if one of us had stayed in the room with him, they would have taken the metal and John would never have known until morning. Then he would never have had the chance to get away." Letting her gaze bore into him as he spoke, she took that as more than a little dig about her allowing John to have his way and let him share the room with Cameron. He seemed to be forgetting two very important facts, Cameron made a point of only listening to what John told her to do something that was becoming increasingly more often lately, and her son was rebelling against both her and his uncle; the chances of either of them not finding the others room were slim to none.

"We know two things right now, one they've got _her_, for what I don't know, and two John's going to do anything he can to get her back. Even if it's putting his own life at risk." She was reminded of when he had come for her, bringing the T-800 they called uncle Bob with him because Skynet had sent another terminator back through time to make sure he didn't become a hero. Her reaction had been less than happy about it, slapping him across the face and pretending she didn't see the hurt that formed in his eyes; when she didn't seem to be as happy as seeing him as he was her despite the situation they had been in. "We need to find him, her, I don't know the terminators that turned up here. Anything before John gets himself killed." Working herself up into a frenzy as she started to pace the room, shotgun on the bed that her son had _so kindly_ left for them.

"And where would you have us start?" the simple question took the wind out of her sails forcing her to turn and stare at Derek. "John took the car; he's got most of the guns with him. I doubt he's going to answer his phone and tell us where he is if you ask him. He's too thick headed, he never listens to anything anyone else says, thinking he's always right and he's always going to win." He later sentences were spoken quieter giving off the feeling that Derek was talking less about the John that he knew in this time and more about the one that sent him back and was off fighting a war. "It's too late to make him listen to anything you have to say, to hold his hand lead him towards his destiny by fighting off his enemies. It's time John led you."

- - -

Waking up with a jolt, breathing had as if he'd been dropped into the chair, John's eyes snapped around the warehouse as he tried to blink away the last remnants of sleep out of his eyes. Trying to slow his breathing down as a dim light started to pool into the building giving him slightly more visibility then the night before, everything that happened came back to him like a truck. Going to the motel, the terminator attack, Cameron being kidnapped, running away from his mum and Derek, finding the warehouse. His gaze found its way back to the nearly finished plasma rifle sitting on the table in front of him, the sun breaking through the dust on the windows making appear that the metal was shinning.

The weariness that came with always being on the run before he or his mum ever met Charley was the second thing that came back full force. Not being able to move himself from his seat as his gaze lost its focus as he continued to stare at the weapon he'd be finishing. He'd spent his life trying to convince himself that he wasn't a hero that had enemies being sent back through time to kill him, while others were sent others back to save his life; and yet without a second thought he'd left the two people who were now the best capable of protecting him from whatever was going to come. Rising from the plastic chair with a groan and stretching his arms above his head, John felt his neck pop before his shoulder followed suit, turning his head so he was looking over his shoulder half expecting to see someone walking over to him; the silence of the warehouse was something that he wasn't used to. Even when they lived by Kacy their house was never silent even if it was only for the soft footsteps of Cameron walking around in the dead of night.

"I can do this," muttering to himself as he sat on his haunches at the table, turning the rifle around trying to see if he could find out just where the missing pieces would need to fit in. Skimming his fingers along the underside of it trying to see if there were any gaps, he let a small smile form when he located a gap underneath the barrel; not looking up in case he lost the place, he allowed his free hand to grope the table before it found the cold metal left there. Not for the first time John found it easier to make the pieces lock into the rifle opposed to trying to combine them together before hand, with hearing the second clicking sound he was left with the tiny square that didn't seem to have any purpose. Well that and the isotope solution that was still in its protective box in his bag, eyes widening as he stared at the object in question he snatched the bag from the table as quickly and yet carefully as he could. The box housing what could have killed him in his sleep was as unharmed as it ever had been, flicking the lid open and staring at what could have passed for a small cube of gel encased in a tight plastic covering; he cautiously pushed it into place; watching as he was given proof Cameron had done most of the hard work. A soft whirring sound could be heard as the isotope dropped further into the rifle and a small covering formed over the top of it, a small ground on it that was only visible when the light hit it in the right direction again. Allowing his eyes to look at the grove before turning to the last piece of the weapon several times before it fell into place, John put the remaining piece in its place, registering in his mind that it was acting as an additional cover for the isotope.

Placing the rifle on the table before changing his mind and moving it back to the duffel bag amazed by how light it was, John pulled the FN Minimi machine gun out of the bag before starting to take it apart; with the plasma rifle in the bag it was too bulky to have both weapons in there. Placing them under the table before following the path he'd taken the night before, his footprints had fallen heavily in the dust on the floor allowing him to fight the ruined jacket, covering the gun parts before zipping up the duffel bag and moving to the door he'd shot; giving the room one last sweeping glance.

Less concerned as he pulled his car back onto the road in daylight, there weren't as many cars out with most people either still in bed or not having left their houses yet. The duffel bag this time was pushed under the passenger seat to hide it from view of anyone that went past and looked in; his mind went through a list of things he'd need to _buy_ if he wanted his plan to work. Crocodile clips, lighter fluid, matches, a knife, he'd need another car battery as well. Pulling up outside a Wal-Mart John walked in trying to avoid looking at anyone; a sixteen year old coming in this early would make them suspicious as it was the last thing he needed was to have a security guard following him.

Looking up every few seconds to check the signs that hung above each aisle to make sure he was still going in the right direction, John started with the smallest items fist. The matches were already resting comfortably in his jean pocket, now he was pretending to look at the different crocodile clips as a few people were in the aisle with him; sighing to himself when it didn't seem like the other customers were going to leave anytime soon, he walked up to the other end of the aisle. His green eyes were drawn to the jumper cables in a box on the lowest level, automotive clips already attached to the ends of them. Taking the time to inconspicuously looking up and down the aisle; John tore the packaging away from the leads before swiftly walking away, half looking at where he was going as he tried to slide the leads around his belt. Feeling like a moron as he tried to keep his shirt flat enough to hide the clips that were starting to stick out, John wanted to get out of the store as quickly as he could. Keeping his head up as he walked towards the doors, assured in the fact that there were more stores that he could find the remaining items in, he wasn't aware that he was holding his breath as he walked past the security barriers only releasing it when they didn't go off.

"This is going to kill me." Kicking up loose stones and gravel as he pulled out of the parking lot, if anyone had been paying any attention to his departure they would have been in little doubt that he'd done something in the store. Matches and jumper cables thrown into the back seat of the car, only slowing his speed down when he couldn't see the store anymore, in the back of his mind John was aware that this was the at least the fourth time he was going to be risking his life to save Cameron, somehow he doubted that anyone else would think it was a good idea. Feeling his hand started to shake as he drove aimlessly around trying to get some of the tension out of his body, he stopped his stolen Mustang outside a small store that claimed to sell everything in the window. This is what he needed, a small family run business that probably didn't have security cameras that could follow his every move. Walking in with an air of confidence that wasn't around him upon entering the Wal-Mart, the fact that there wasn't anyone else in there not even the owner was an added boost. Taking longer to find what he needed, the store not having anything out that told you; John found himself sliding a tin of lighter fluid into his back pocket, a knife carefully being slipped up his sleeve, and a set of heavy duty gloves carefully resting on the folded inside of his top.

"Excuse me," freezing knowing it had been too good to be true, John turned at the slightly accented voice looking at the thirty something year old woman standing behind the counter smiling kindly at him. "Do you need any help?" His moth opening and closing like a fish out of water as he struggled to think of a response only one thing came to mind.

"Lo siento, pero no hablo inglés." Inwardly smiling at his answer opposed to his two other responses which would have been run out the door or continue to stand there look idiotic. Turning to leave the store once again he made it to the door when the woman spoke again.

"Lo comprendo perfectamente. Que tenga un buen día." Not being able to make himself turn around John continued walking out the door now cursing his luck that the one store he went into the only other person in there would speak Spanish as well. Driving off with a calmer attitude this time, after taking the time to place his three newly acquired items into the seat behind him making sure that the lighter fluid wouldn't leak on anything. He nearly had everything he needed; all that was left was the car battery and whatever knew where Cameron was.

The drive back to the warehouse was a display in restraint on John's part, the night before the night before he was sure that the terminator's had merely taken Cameron because she was the first one they had seen; but that hadn't made any sense because he had come out of his room as well. His mind had gone into overdrive trying to figure out how and why someone would kidnap his best form of protection and not kill him when they had the chance. He'd only been able to come up with one answer Catherine Weaver. The T-1001 as Cameron had called her, the head of ZeriaCorp the company that was buying out everything that the resistance would use and need in the future. He wasn't sure why she'd take Cameron but he did know one thing, and that was he didn't like having things that were his taken from him. Jumper cables, lighter fluid, matches and knife were all taken into the warehouse and placed on top of the table; tilting his head in the direction that he'd gone the night before for the second time that day John retraced his steps, finding the steel chain and hammer that had been there the night before.

- - -

Pulling outside the glass doors of ZeriaCorp half an hour earlier than any of her other employees acting the part of the workaholic that they whispered she was, Catherine Weaver's gaze slowly lifted up the building to the top floor where her office overlooked the street. There was no mistaking the slender form of Cameron standing in the window staring down at her, the night before the T-1001 had told the T0K now housing what she hoped and appeared to be an early version of Skynet to stay there until she returned in the morning. It confused her being able to order around the entity that would at a later date create her, but the brunette had listened and it seemed not moved from her spot at the window.

The sound of twigs crunching under someone's foot behind her, forced the shape shifting terminator to turn around and stare slightly wide eyed at the person looking back at her.

"John Connor." Tilting her head to the side as lines of code brought up the next thing she should say, "I feel like I should bow, this is the second time you've been in my presence by your own choice." The attempted humour that was programmed into all of the later terminators if they were to ever see their creators most feared and hated enemy didn't crack a smile off of the sixteen year old glaring back at it. "Have you come here to die John? My schedule is slightly busy maybe you should come back another time." Resisting the urge to driver her finger through his head and end the war right here and right now, Catherine Weaver watched as he started to turn away, ready to walk back through the small alleyway that he came down to find her. Tilting her head up to see what the reaction of the other terminator watching was going to be, she her enhanced vision allowed her to make out the hatred in Cameron's brown eyes mixed in with a sense of longing. The scan of the other female's features prevented her from noticing the small warning message pop up before feeling like the outer layer of skin was being melted from her frame.

**Warning: Endo Skeleton heating to critical levels. Mimetic polyalloy unable to compensate. Going to standby state.**

Releasing the trigger of the plasma rifle as he watched the T-1001 collapse to the floor, John felt the corner of his mouth lift up in a snarl as he stared down at the smoking hole in the red haired machines back. Not knowing how much time he had or if she was really unconscious he quickly made his way over to her body, rolling it over so she was on her back. Staring at her dull eyes nearly a mirror image of Cameron's when he'd taken out her chip months ago. He didn't show the same care and worry for this model as he did back then. Grabbing hold of her wrist and forearm John started to drag her limp body back towards his car hidden away behind one of the signs indicating to the different car parks for the different jobs people held there.

Shoving her body into the back seat carelessly and slamming the door behind her not noticing or rather not caring that one of her feet were still hanging out and could have shattered the bone at the very least if she had been human, he folder her body over itself before slamming the door a second time. With a hard sigh John pulled the heavy duty gloves onto his hands before rushing back over to the area he'd attacked Catherine Weaver, if anyone turned up then the chances of them finding the plasma rifle were more likely than the terminator in his car waiting to kill him. Holding the rifle in one hand as he jogged over to the black BMW, the only care in the apart from his own even there, shattering the driver's window with his elbow before climbing into the car, finding the car keys in the ignition forced him to raise his eyebrows; proof that the cyborg's weren't as infallible as they thought they were. Popping the hood of the car, looking around as he moved to the front of the, he wasted no time in prying the battery out of the BMW before rushing back to his own.

Propping Catherine Weaver's body in the plastic chair, and shooting her twice with his shotgun watching as the polyalloy slowly started to leak out of her and over the wound. John grabbed hold of the steel chain and started to wrap it around the machines body as tightly as he could; making sure that she wouldn't be able to move her feet by using the end of the chain to wrap around one of the table legs followed by her own. Only her forearms and hands could be moved and even that was a whole lot, he had positioned her arms so they would be bent forwards almost as if there was something resting on them.

"Nearly time to wake the bitch up," leaving the warehouse through the door he'd been using, he drove his car further towards the abandoned building so it could be seen from the inside but still allow him to get in and out. Lifting the hood of his own car, he removed the slightly beat up looking battery before squeezing in the one he'd taken from the BMW with no little difficulty. Having to shimmy around the side of the car to make sure he didn't catch himself as he walked back inside, one part of the jumper cable being attached to the battery post, his murderous green eyes found the T-1001 slowly lifting its head coming back out of its standby state. "Nice to see you've woken up, you'll have to forgive to accommodations." Disgust dripping from his every word as he walked back to the table at a leisurely pace letting the machine know that while she could kill him in a second he was in control here. "I wonder how many more shots you can take from the rifle, I'm guessing not many." Spinning a chair around to reveal the weapon he was talking about pointing at Catherine, there was nothing John could do to stop the dark smile from forming on his face. "So I'm going to ask you once, where's Cameron?"

"I'm going to tear your windpipe out and wear it for a belt." The humourless laugh that came from her captor wasn't the reaction she was expecting and neither was the backhanded blow to her face. Fighting back the grimace that tried to show when he felt his bone connected with the coltan frame underneath her skin, a sore hand wasn't going to stop him here no matter what _it_ thought about humans. "I'll mail a piece of you to your mother before I kill her as well." a stronger blow with his other hand was all the response the terminator got, the anger not being able to be hidden as it coursed through John's veins.

"How about I send you back to Skynet destroyed saying that you were faulty." Turning away from her and walking off as he massaged his hands, he had a feeling that the T-1001 was looking not only at the plasma rifle but the knife, lighter fluid, matches and hammer he'd left on the table. "I was once told that terminator's can feel something similar to pain, let's see how right that was." Grabbing hold of the five inch knife and holding it so the blunt back end of it was resting against his skin as it travelled up his forearm, John swung it across Weaver's face watching as a long and deep cut formed before the liquid metal that coated her coltan frame oozed out of the cut healing in within seconds. Slashing her a second time and watching as it held the same effect; the wound was visible for roughly second two before it healed.

"You are _not_ the John Connor from the future, and you will die. I promise you that." Pleased with his efforts to damage her being in vain so far, the red haired machine couldn't stop the gas of surprise and slight pain when with a growl John drove the knife into her neck. His anger fuelled strength allowed him to push the blade two to three inches into the living tissue bringing up messages in her HUD telling her that she was damaged, but because he hadn't taken the knife out and was continuing to put more pressure on it; forcing it further into her body, the mimetic polyalloy couldn't heal her.

"Let's see how advanced you really are." Letting go of the blade handle, John took a step back and just stared at the cyborg in front of him. This time it was the lighter fluid and box of matches that were the things he picked up, the expression on his face making him look more like a machine then the thing chained to the chair in front of him. "I remember the last time Skynet sent a T-1000 after me, we froze it and it couldn't heal itself properly anymore, and then we burnt it," turning around to reveal the two object in his hand he stared at Weaver. "In your case we'll just skip the freezing part." Unscrewing the top off the tin before moving back to his victim, John gave the knife a sharp pull watching as it tore more of the skin away. Moving quickly before she had the chance to heal, he started to pour the oily substance into the wound before moving the knife in a jagged circle to make sure it was mixing in with the liquid metal that was starting to form. "This might hurt a little bit." Sparking the match, John dropped it into the two and a half inch hold in her Weaver's neck before moving the knife back into place and taking several steps back.

The reaction whether implemented by lines of code to tell her the reaction was still sickening to watch, writhing in the chair as the flames started to combine with the polyalloy that was attempting to heal the wound. Slowly the small flames started to lick against the edges of skin from the top of the T-1001's neck that had been pushed down due to the knife, using that as a stepping stone they started to travel along the rest of her body being helped along by John throwing more lighter fluid onto her ignoring the screams that were starting to form and hoping that everyone else was as well.

"It looks like you _can_ feel pain after all. But your screaming's slightly annoying." With the smell of burning flesh becoming more pungent in the warehouse, John was forced to leave and stand behind his car as he watched from a distance as the flame continued to dance across the machines body. In a lot of ways it was sick and twisted watching it, but at the same time he knew that they'd do worse to him if they got the chance.

Only when the flames started to die down did he even think about making a move back towards the warehouse, grabbing the other half of the jumper cables as he slide past his car and started moving towards the chair where the terminator's skin had nearly been completely burnt off. The polyalloy was now being able to heal the damage done to her as the knife had fallen to the floor as the skin gave way.

"You forgot this." Driving it back into the liquid metal and watching as it pooled around the blade before Weaver's skin started to reform around it. "That looked like it really _really _hurt." No expression of his face, as he attacked the other end of the jumper cable to the steel chain making sure that he didn't actually touch the glowing metal.

"I'll show you pain when I get out of this." The terminator's voice came out more ragged then it ever had been as she stared at the sixteen year old she was growing to fear with each passing second. "The human race is going to burn, but you. We have something special planned for you." For the first time since being captured Weaver allowed a smile to form on her face as her CPU brought up the image of Cameron telling her the night before she wanted to kill John herself. Blinking in confusion as she watched the male remove the plasma rifle from the chair and spinning it around so he was straddling it as he glared back at her.

"You and me, we've been at war since before either of us even existed. You tried killing my mother, you killed my father, but you will _not_ kill me." Checking that the clip was secured enough to the chain, John started walking back towards his car not turning around to see the expression on her face after what he'd just said. Hammer in hand he opened the driver's side door, before sliding into the car and wedging it onto the accelerator and floor to make sure that it would slip off. Sure this wasn't the reason jumper cables were invented in the first place but watching the spasms travelling through the T-1001's body made him wan to think otherwise. Low powered shocks to her coltan frame and chip, not strong enough to render her unconscious, but more like a boxer's jab; a quick electric shock to the brain that would stop her from remembering what she was going to do. "You could end this now if you just tell me where she is." The lack of screaming was a plus even if he did have to raise his voice to be heard over the engine of the car.

"Z...Zeria......ZeriaCorp.....my office." Having trouble speaking with the voltage flowing through her, Catherine watched as John tore the jumper cable away from the steel chain before turning his back to her and picking up the plasma rifle. "She's there. I told you."

"And now you get to die." Pulling back on the trigger for a second time that day, it was s sick relish that filled John as he watched the chair fly backwards, the heat of the weapon enough to melt the chain; walking over to the prone terminator whose eyes were starting to flicker as she her power cell was becoming dangerously low. "I'll see you in hell." Again an arc of blue energy shot from the gun, this time hitting the cyborg in the stomach just high enough to connect to the second wound making it look like one large one. A quicker pace as he walked over to his car, he tore the hammer off of the pedal before ripping the battery out without so much as a second though before replacing it with his own, a quick look at what looked to be a woman on the floor thirteen feet away from him. If Cameron wasn't there he was going to repair Weaver just so they could go through this all over again.


End file.
